The Fall of the Lost
by dynishra
Summary: The Sequal of Distant Light Years, a dark story into the mind of Trunks during the 250 years of pain and war after Vegeta leaves Earth.
1. Prologue The Beginning of the End

Ladies and Gentlemen.. I introduce to you the sequel of Distant Light Years. The dark and morbid story of Trunks Briefs and his fall in to the dark of evil and insanity. Who knows what will happen within this 250 year time frame? Things thought of, things mentioned, things never spoken and never remembered. This is a story about "how". How the way the characters are who they are in Distant Light Years and all told by the greatest victim of his own ruthless ambition. Trunks him self.  
Fall Of The Lost  
Part Two of the Dark Dragon Cycle.  
To be rated R for violence and other unmentionables.  
  
I strongly recommend, that if you have not done so, for you to read Distant Light Years, part one of this trilogy. If you don't this story will no doubt be extremely confusing.  
Prologue: The Beginning of the End.  
~ Look..  
  
If you had one shot..  
  
One opportunity..  
  
To seize everything you ever wanted..  
  
One moment..  
  
Would you capture it?  
  
Or let it slip.. ~  
My journal lay open on the desk. It was bound in wine red leather and had my name written in a fine hand with a gold pen.  
  
I picked up the pen, which had lain absently on the desk and began to write..  
  
~ May I just say this now.~ I wrote. ~This nonsense is entirely Goten's fault. It was he who has persuaded me to write of my.. Our pasts. I can tell you, once he gets an idea stuck in his concrete brain it doesn't go away. He pestered me constantly over it. Until I told him to go write his own stupid story. But then he went all mysterious and said it was my story to tell and no one else's. I sigh. I can tell you if I didn't hold him so dear to me I would make a nice throw rug from his hide.  
  
I suppose he was interested in knowing my side of things. I have no idea why. As far as I'm concerned, he's the one who's had family and loves to cherish life.. at least more so than my self any how. Though I suppose it's not really about that. I have reason to believe his idiot brother had something to do with his idea. That wouldn't surprise me either.. Gohan has an irritating habit of trying to pick my brain, to see what makes me tick.  
  
If he continues he may regret his inquisitiveness.~  
  
I threw my pen down in exasperation as I closed my eyes. I had a raging headache, but that wasn't any thing new, I always had raging headaches. Bra use to say it was because Bulma dropped me on my head too many times as a baby. But Bra always spoke drivel, I never paid her much attention. She always reminded me too much of Father.. I rubbed my temples.  
  
I picked up the abandoned pen and put it to paper once more.  
  
~Goten said this would be good for my own piece of mind. HA! What drugs has he been on.. I think he's just been hanging out with that twit Gohan too much.~  
  
I smiled slightly to my self and examined the yellowing human skull on my dark hardwood desk in dull boredom. I was not the type to write about my self. Hell, I was not the type to write at all. I sighed and walked over to the window that looked out over my city. Oh yes.. all mine! Lovely! I grinned to my self. Power was so thrilling.  
  
"My story.. my story.." I whispered out loud to the wall next to my head. Goten wanted my story. It was ludicrous. He had lived my story with me for Kami's sake.  
  
I hummed a comforting tune and wrote my name in the dusty windowsill. TRUNKS VEGETA BRIEFS. I didn't want to forget that now did I? I was the son of Vegeta.. I snarled between clenched teeth. How could he leave me again?! My bastard Father, gone again. All dressed in his Saiyan best. Vanished, just like that!  
  
It has been three months since he left me again. I know this time I won't see him ever. Gohan told me what he did. Gohan didn't want to at first but I managed to convince him. Hehehee.. such lovely screams.. A chill went up my spine. I had always loved the loud high vocal sound of some one screaming. In pain preferably.  
  
I looked down at the gardens out the window. The twisted rose gardens stretched wildly up to the clear blue autumn sky. I smiled slightly, I had always loved roses. Most people liked that rich romantic red but I preferred yellow. I wasn't entirely sure why. I suppose it was because they smelled so nice. Refreshing. I remember coming back after killing countless hundreds every day when I was younger, I would walk through the gardens to the Capsule Corp and I would smell the yellow roses and the sent of the rotting dead would vanish. This was before I had my castle. I had always liked growing things, I suppose it came from my Grandmother who had died long before all the madness. Blond idiot though she was.  
  
Remembering was always easy for me. Either the memory simply wasn't there or my own emotions, which had faded to nothing long ago, left no associated pain to the moment. Whether it was my mother's death or seeing the faces of those I killed. Screaming pleading faces. I bared my teeth in a dark grin.  
  
With a slight happy sigh I decided to give in to Goten's wish, writing of my past would be a good way to remember things in the future, long after the memories faded into non-remembrance.  
  
I sat back in my plush red chair and picked up the pen. I once heard from some one that the pen is mightier than the sword. The written word could make the strongest man weep. I was very sceptical of that, how old written words could still convey a feeling to a person reading them hundreds of years after being written was beyond my understanding.  
  
Never the less, I thought vainly that perhaps some day, a person might sit down on the hard ground and read this, and perhaps my ghost might hear their screaming and their wailing as they tear at their eye sockets and I would remember the pleasure of my life again.  
  
The thought made me smile.  
  
I started to scribble from the beginning of my tale. My scrip was slim and slopping, but often varied in size depending on what it was I wrote of.  
  
As I wrote, I hummed. A nice little ditty, one I sing out loud in situations where I loose my cool.. 


	2. Chp 1 The Lost One

Chapter One: The Lost One.  
~You'd better,  
  
Loose your self in the music..  
  
The moment, you own it,  
  
You better never let it go..  
  
You only get one shot,  
  
Don't miss your chance to blow..  
  
This opportunity comes once in a life time..~  
Two hundred and fifty years earlier..  
I sat listlessly in class. The hot summer heat was making me drowsy and it was impossible to concentrate on the teacher's droning monotonous voice. Kami! If only Gohan had learnt to animate his classes then maybe I may have been learning something.  
  
Sweat trickled down my forehead; my soft lilac fringe was matted to my temple. Goten groaned beside me and leaned back in his desk chair. His head hung back, his eyes closed lightly and his short black hair falling to gravity's whim. His arms hung limply at his sides. "Kami.. Gohan is so boring.." he muttered as one hand levitated up to swipe at his brow. He looked as hot as I did.  
  
"Ready to melt into a pile of biological goo as well huh?" I questioned knowing full well what the answer was. Let me tell you now, I hated biology. It was interesting up to the point where the long Latin names for everything started to blur together in my cranium. The worst part was trying to concentrate on biology when you had a heat wave as intense as this one. I wondered vaguely what the Latin name for a demi-Saiyan was.  
  
"Goo? I think I'm about to evaporate.." moaned Goten. The worst part about being in Gohan's class was the fact he always singled us out to do stuff. We were his stupid little lab rats. And we could never fool around cause he never took his eyes off us. I saw him pause in his lecture and look pointedly as us. The glare very obviously told us to shut up. I had to admit. I did respect Gohan more since he had got rid of those dorky glasses. Apparently the damage to his corneas which he had sustained from a surprise Solar Flare from his dad not that long ago in a sparring match, had healed. While he had eye trouble he had to wear these ridiculous glasses that apparently he had hated as much as I did. When he wore them, it was like he was mocking something. I understood injures sustained in sparring matches, but if Gohan hadn't gone slack in his routine in the first place, his eyes wouldn't have suffered for it. Oh well, no matter, they were gone now and certainly Videl seemed happier for it.  
  
Scank.  
  
I barely heard the knocking at the door. My head felt floaty and intoxicated. Gohan paused in his ramble once again with an irritated huff. I frowned at his reaction. He must be in a bad mood. I smirked when I thought of a reason. Poor Gohan didn't get any last night. Boo hoo.  
  
The messenger spoke hurriedly to Gohan and then Mr Son, I snigger at that, looked up at us with a rather pale and shocked expression. I sat up, Goten followed me, his eyes wide and both of us immediately thought the worst. Some big monster had attacked the city, or a tyrannical alien was attempting to take over Earth. Gohan asked the class to excuse him for a moment and beckoned to us to follow. I grumbled and forced my lead legs to move as Goten shoved past me to walk down the stairs to the front. Scowling darkly I followed, my intentions focused on revenge for Goten rudely bumping me like he did. Nothing serious you understand, nothing in my intentions were in any way sinister. Then.  
  
The other people ignored us as we left and started talking amongst them selves. They didn't care of course. Why should they?  
  
Once Gohan had lead us out into the hall, he bit his lip lightly and sighed. "Vegeta's gone missing." He muttered, it was obvious he didn't really care. And in truth I wondered why I was being told this in class, dad went missing all the time. He eventually came back or Bra went and got him from that stupid cliff he liked to stand on in the desert wastes. That's where he usually was. Either that or out in the wilds sparring with Goku.  
  
Though as I understood it, Goku and my dad seemed to be distancing them selves of late. But I did begin to worry after what Gohan said next, "He's stolen one of your Grandfather's ships and taken off into space." This puzzled me. Why did he go off world?  
  
I knew he use to before I was born but he hasn't done it since. I was about to speak when I paused. I was thinking back to this morning at breakfast. My father had been acting odd then as well. He had seemed distant and almost.. depressed. I suppose that wasn't that unusual. He had been rather down lately. I had no idea why, but I had sensed some tension between mum and dad. It seemed like mum had picked up dad's usual bad temper and they had barely been speaking. But for dad to take off into space was rather unusual, but not really that worrying. I was sure he'd come back. He'd probably just gone off for a break.  
  
The message had been from my mum, asking me to come home straight away. Since Goten tagged along with me everywhere, he followed.  
  
~*~  
  
Mum hurried out of the house, a grave expression on her face. She gave a quick glance at Goten and then hurried us inside. "Oh Kami.. I can't believe this has happened." She panted as she threw her self into a chair at the kitchen table. A worker drone carefully deposited a latte in a large white mug in front of her. I slowly lowered my self into a chair opposite her. I now had a strange feeling in my gut that things were worse than they appeared. Damn my accuracy. Mum collected her self and took a quick sip of her caffinated latté.  
  
"What's going on? I don't see why this is such a big thing mum. Dad goes off all the time, you know he'll come back." I was worried mum might be thinking he had abandoned her. Once she wouldn't have cared, but over the years a deep loving bond had grown between my parents. I instantly regretted my earlier thoughts that they were having relationship problems. How could I have been so thoughtless?  
  
Mum looked at me sadly. "Oh Kami Trunks, if only it was that simple!" she took a breath and her words chilled me to the bone. "The space craft Vegeta took was a prototype of Grandfathers." I knew the one she was talking of. It was that very nice looking sleek silver ship that Grandfather had installed that new bio-energy engine into. I nodded, still not understanding what was wrong. "Well you see Trunks, Grandfather still hadn't installed a TSCM yet.." her voice faded off to a mournful whisper. *(Refer to chapter one of Distant Light Years for clarification.)  
  
A TSCM, I knew what a TSCM was. It stood for Time Space Continuous Movement device. Grandfather was tipped to get another Noble Prize for it. A shiver ran through me as I began to understand the ramifications. "Oh holy fuck." I gasped, staring at mum in horror. The TSCM made a spacecraft with it installed fall in to unrelative time in sync with Earth's. In the essential it was like a time modifying device that stopped any ship that left Earth falling into the relative time fame of the universe. It meant that if a ship left Earth for a week and came back a week later. Then only two weeks would have passed on Earth and only two weeks would have passed for he ships passenger. With out the device, a trip that may feel like only two weeks long to the passenger may in fact be more like two years of Earth time. It was very confusing and complicated but it worked. And the ship father had taken did not have this device attached to it.  
  
I was blinking rapidly. Sweat, which at first had been for the heat, now came from a deep nervous fear. I jumped to my feet. "Do you know where he's going?! We have to communicate with the ship and stop him! How long has he been away!" I saw the strength of steel come to mother's eyes  
  
"Your right Trunks. I'll get on to the ships communication device and you go get your Grandfather to get one of his old capsule ships ready for launch!" Mum instantly took control of the situation. She was great like that. That was something I admired strongly about her, in times of stress she could always keep a level head. She takes all her emotions and stores them away to deal with later. As she went down to her lab me and Goten raced outside to find my Grandfather.  
  
~*~  
  
It took us ten minutes to eventually find Grandfather. He was standing quietly in the observatory looking through his giant telescope. The device was huge, about ten feet long and over three feet wide at its largest point. It was excellent for viewing distant objects.  
  
"Ah, Trunks, there you are." His voice was tinged with nervous excitement, though I saw worry in his pale grey eyes. He gestured to the telescope. "I've been watching your father's progress with my ship. It works better than I ever dreamed though unfortunately this won't help us in retrieving him.." he ended. The small black cat was missing from his shoulder, I wondered vaguely where it could be. "I've been monitoring him, this telescope is the only means of following him that I have. Neither of you touch it or we'll loose sight of him."  
  
I nodded and sighed slightly. I was sure we'd be able to get him back easily enough. I didn't think there was any need for all this fuss and worry. "Mum's asked if you could get a capsule ship ready so we can intercept him."  
  
Grandfather blinked at me for several seconds. "Intercept that ship? I don't thing so Trunks. She's far too fast, but you can hope to catch up to Vegeta if he lands some where." He was looking slightly nervous. "Hmmm.. mean while we have to keep tracking him." He gave me a reassuring grin. "Don't worry Trunks, I'll just go get Capsule 3 ready to go." He gave me one of his usual cherry smiles and wandered off humming to him self. I felt a brief moment of anger. My emotions were so confused. One moment I felt sure of my self and what we were doing and the next I was frightened that dad had gone off for good. I gave a sigh and turned to Goten. He rapped his arm about my shoulder as we walked back to where mum was in the com-room.  
  
"Don't worry dude, your dad will come back you know." He grinned at me and I couldn't help but return it. Goten's always had that infectious grin.  
  
"I know Goten.." I smiled.  
  
~*~  
  
As I left the observatory, Yamcha, oblivious to the recent frantic occurrences, wandered into the large room. "Whoa, why is it there's always something new to see at this place." He muttered as he walked around the titan-sized telescope. He noticed the screen beside it showing the image of a small white thing. "I wonder what that is?" he tapped the screen but nothing happened. With a frown Yamcha walked over to the small eyepiece of the telescope and peered through. "Ha! Man, it's a little ship! It must be light years away!" He stood back with a look of admiration skimming across his face. "Dr Briefs really knows his mechanical stuff." A naughty hentai look suddenly crawled onto his face. "Heh heh heh.. if this thing can see a space ship millions of miles away I bet I'll be able to see that cute Blondie's house from here!" He glued his eye to the eyepiece and pushed the buttons on the control panel nearby to swing the huge tonne weight of the telescope around the view madly. There was a loud creaking noise from the joints of the large telescope's suspension as it was not use to being moved so fast to another position. Yamcha frowned when he couldn't see anything of Blondie's house but a big white blur and stood back with a scowl. "Damn thing! Why won't it work right?!" He whined.  
  
From where I was in the hall I suddenly heard a large painful groan from the observatory. Goten looked up. "It sounds like some ones moving it!" he yelped and we both turned around to run back to the observatory. I gasped and froze when I saw Yamcha playing about with it.  
  
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" I cried, running over to shove Yamcha out of the way so I could see the view screen. It was just as I feared. The tracking of father's ship had been lost. "You jerk!" Cried Goten, the usual happy-go-lucky Son reduced to rage in the face of Yamcha's bonehead stupidity. "That was following the ship Vegeta took off in!"  
  
Yamcha blinked in surprise. "Ah, so that's what that little white thing was." He mumbled scratching his chin.  
  
"Yeah that's what that 'little white thing' was." I growled walking stiffly to stand beside Goten. Shoulder to shoulder. My eyes narrowed, I felt a huge rage within me, a rage licked with the fear of despair. "That was the only way we had off following him and you RUINED IT!" I raged, I could feel my blood rushing through me like molten hot lava. Quicksilver would have melted on my skin. Little golden sparks of Ki sprung about me as I lost my cool. I clenched my fists, leaving crescent shaped creases in my palms. "You complete moron!" I swung my fist and with a cloud of dust, sent Yamcha through the wall.  
  
Goten blinked. "Whoa hey Trunks, I know what he did was stupid but there's no need to get that worked up over it." He rested his hands with a light restraint on my back. I twisted around angrily.  
  
"What do you know! We could have lost him now because of that fool! We could have lost him forever!" I shoved Goten out of my way and ran out of the observatory. I had to tell mum what happened. What a complete and utter idiot! How could he have been so.. so.. AH! Thoughtless! I wondered slightly if I was now thinking about Yamcha or Vegeta.  
  
Goten sighed slightly and glared at the white powdered human. He shook his head in silent disgust and then ran after me. Goten caught up with me soon enough and said nothing. His silence strengthened me.  
  
I found mum in the com-room, trying repeatedly to contact the ship. As I walked in she dropped the mic with a sigh and leaned forward in her chair to cry silently into her arms. I watched her before making my self known. She jumped slightly. "Oh Trunks! You startled me.." she sniffed and dried her face with a quick swipe of her sleeve.  
  
"Mum.. something's happened to the telescope.." As soon as I said the words she interrupted me with a gasp.  
  
"Oh my Kami! What's happened?!" She cried, pushing past me to run down the hall to the observatory. I winced when I heard the angry shriek. "YAMCHA! YOU BASTARD!"  
  
Goten and I both sweatdropped. "Man, I sure as hell don't want to be him right now." Quipped Goten with a pale nervous look to the observatory door. I sighed. Another day in the Brief House hold. From shrieking harpy-woman to moronic Yamcha's and Vanishing Princes.  
  
"Trunks! Did you make this hole in the wall!" Came another high vocal noise. I really wanted to be a Vanishing Prince right then.  
  
I was about to mention some sly comment to Goten only to find my best mate had bailed on me. "SEEYOULATERTRUNKS,MYMUMWILLWANTMEFORDINNER!" he yelled in a flurry of Saiyan speed as he grabbed his bag and sprinted out the door.  
  
"COWARD!" I yelled after him as I gave a laugh. Trust Goten to throw me to the wolves. I went red in the face and walked into the observatory with a clever excuse on the tip of my tongue. "Don't worry mum," I smirked at the bruised Yamcha. "He did that to him self." I scowled slightly. "You know he's the one who knocked off the telescopes alignment so he could purve at some slag's house."  
  
Mum went red in the face. "You lost me my husband you jerk!" She screamed at Yamcha. And back through the wall he was punched. "Get your sorry looser face out of my wall and off my property Yamcha!" Considering the baka human's reaction was too slow for me I happily grabbed him by his shirt and threw him bodily out the nearest window.  
  
"By Kami! That man continually vexes me!" Hissed mum as she turned about and attempted to find father again.  
  
Two hours later there was no success. This didn't stop mum though and she continued to scan the skies with the telescope late into the night. At about 11pm I brought her a cold roast dinner and she ate it silently with out looking up.  
  
As the days past and she continued to search, my worries grew. She left it to me to get Bra and me ready for school in the mornings. Every morning Bra would wake to see mum working hard at the observatory, dark rings under her blue eyes. Bra would frown with worry. "Where's daddy Trunks?" She would sob and I would often carry her to school so she could cry on my shoulder.  
  
Days soon turned into weeks, and weeks into months. It was six months before mum decided she wanted to physically go out and look for Vegeta. The ship had been prepped long before and she asked Goku and Gohan to go with her. She left me in charge at Capsule Corps. Mum promised to be back in a year's time if she had not found him.  
  
The day she, Goku and Gohan left, I stood silently. Speaking only to reassure her every thing will be okay here on Earth. I held Bra's little hand as she watched with large watery blue eyes as mum left us behind as well.  
~**~  
  
TBC..  
  
Hey guys, tell me what you think? I wonder what Vegeta would have felt if he had known this would happen..  
  
I suppose I summed that feeling up in Distant Light Years though huh?  
  
Well, I hope you like this sequel as much as I'm going to.  
  
As a disclaimer, I would like to venture forth and say any one who believes I claim to own Dragonball Z and some how get money from writing these Fanfics, are in the words of the Great Saiyan Prince.. A Bakayaro Ninjin. Thank you.  
  
Chow for the mo!  
  
~Dynishra the Vampire~ 


	3. Chp 2 Corporate Duties

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't bother. And that means YOU.  
  
Warnings: Language, death, angst.  
Chapter Two: Corporate Duties.  
~ It is vain to say human beings might be satisfied with tranquillity; they must have action, and they will make it if they can not find it.~ Charlotte Brontë.  
It had been six months and I was tired. I yearned for sleep that lasted longer than 8 hours and had me waking late in the morning. I longed to wake to the sent of honey toast long since eaten. I longed to wake with the sun high in the sky.  
  
My school year had just finished, and so had my school education. I turned 18 two weeks ago.. It was rather uneventful compared to past parties. It lacked the great social gathering that my mother loved to organise.  
  
Goten gave me a present with a green bow and a large grin. When I had taken off the second-hand wrapping I found to my delight a small hand carved wooden katana. It rested on a tiny wooden stand and had been vanished dark. I loved it, Goten said he had made it him self. This was something I instantly believed as Son Goten had a great talent in woodcarving. It had my name in Chinese symbols engraved on the handle and painted over in gold leaf. I was the most wonderful present I think I have ever been given. We had a small party of two where we got drunk and watched Bruce Lee movies. It was great to wind down from the double load I had been balancing between schoolwork and Capsule Corp business. Looking after a small child had been also as hard but thankfully Grandfather and Grandmother were a great help in handling Bra.  
  
After the party, Goten visited almost every day. With most of his family gone with mother he split his time between me, Chichi, Videl and Pan. Goten was talking to me about going to live with Videl to help out with Pan. Gohan had originally been reluctant to go with Goku and mother but Videl said it would be alright. Chichi was all on her own again and often took the roll of poor-abandoned-house-wife over the phone, complaining in my ear until I sent her $200 just to get her going.  
  
On this morning I lay in bed. I ignored the phone that rang several times as I lay staring at the ceiling. My arms draped lightly over the soft blue duvet on my chest. My red silk boxers were a blissful comfort. I rolled to my side and half buried my face into the cotton pillowcase. I watched the light move like waves of water across the ceiling. It had filtered an escape through the top of my cream curtains. The room had that lovely shady golden darkness of morning. I was too warm and light-headed to move. I sighed happily and wished I could just lay here like this every morning. It was Saturday. I should be at Capsule Corp. I had a meeting.. I checked the bedside clock.. an hour ago. I knew they had been ringing me. Screw them. I was tired and I needed rest and relaxation. I crossed my arms behind my head with a smile. Trunks Briefs, the great and powerful.. I laughed out loud at my arrogant inner thoughts.. always needed his rest and relaxation. I smiled again. Ah.. The lovely morning.. Oh what terrors would this new day bring..  
  
I smirked and went back to sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
"Mr Briefs, we put this simply. We can not come to formal arrangements for anything, if you are not there to head them!" said Matthew Hickman. I looked out the tinted window. I smiled at the sparrow that hopped along the aluminium frame. "This is a serious matter Mr Briefs, as stand-in President and being a young man we understand the weaker flaws in your abilities, to tell you the truth, the rest of us Board members seriously questioned Bulma's wisdom in letting you stand-in.." I frowned slightly. What was that about 'weakness'? I felt a stubborn niggle at the back of my head. If only I was more like my father.. then these snobbish dough heads could go back to their conniving ways. I tensed with anger, how dare they try to wrestle the power of Capsule Corps from me! It was MY families business! I was the President at the moment, not these two-faced idiots!  
  
"Mr Briefs, the current situation between us and our rival company, The Receptacle Inc. is bad and getting worst by the moment! The stocks are down lower than they have in five years and we hear that President Weis is coming out with something new and revolutionary." Mr Hickman dabbed lightly at his brow with a towelette.  
  
The man was nervous, I could see that clearly as I slowly lowered my bored gaze back to him. I was still slightly burnt about his remark of weakness. I knew these men were working hard. Every day they were the first in, last out; working constantly in marketing divisions I had barely peaked my head into. But I had been working like that as well. No matter what they said, I had needed that rest, despite missing this morning's meeting. I clenched my teeth, they had no right to treat me like a child!  
  
Slowly I stood and rested my hands on the polished wood table in front of me. I looked around at all five of them. Matthew was the Board Manager. He was the one who spoke for the Board. I didn't like him, he didn't like me; it was a mutual bond. Even though he was good at his job, for him to be so worked up like this I knew that the situation was serious. I did not want mother to come back to a floundering Capsule Corp. I needed to prove my self.  
  
This was the perfect situation. "Goethe said 'You must be the anvil or the hammer.' We will NOT suffer for being the anvil, gentlemen. We are Capsule Corp, a multi-billion dollar corporation! We have always been the hammer! And we will not hand that power over lightly! President Weis of the Receptacle Inc. is throwing a bluff." I knew this to be true, I could feel it in my gut. Weis always was a bloody liar. And I heard he cheated at cards.  
  
"He has nothing new! But we on the other hand can sink him. I know you have been working on something, gentlemen. I read in a report that you have been researching into holographic display and communications in the power of light? Manipulating light or such. I'm not the scientist. To tell the truth I can barely understand that mumbo-jumbo you write your reports in. But you see that's not the point." I looked around at them. They all looked rather stunned at my outburst. "Carpe diem, gentlemen. Seize the day, we must before Weis works this stuff out before we do! I will not have Capsule Corps fall before that man." I growled, and thumped my fist on to the table, rocking coffee mugs on their coasters.  
  
I was a Prince, I could feel it in me, that ability to rule. But instead of ruling people I would rule this company like my mother wanted me to. I would make both of my parents proud in my own way.  
  
I knew they were impressed with my little speech. Perhaps I had even won some respect from them. Thinking over what I had said, they departed. I stayed where I was, standing in front of the long table. My eyes unfocused with thought.  
  
~*~  
  
"Trunks!" Came the high pitched little voice. Bra came running up to me with a big smile with her rosy cheeks. "Look what Pan gave me!" She jumped up and down holding an origami butterfly made from pink and yellow paper. The other little dark haired girl raced over and covered her mouth as she giggled.  
  
"Bra likes my butterfly see!" laughed the little Son angel. I grinned down at both of them before they ran off to play with some balloons tied to a door handle. The other little children gathered about them, vying for balloons. Videl walked over to me with a disarming smile.  
  
"Hello Trunks, this is a lovely party you've put on for Bra." I smiled back at Gohan's wife and nodded my head slightly. I didn't really like Videl much, she had a habit of sticking her nose into business which was none of her concern. Other than that she seemed nice enough. I was tolerant of her on the whole. She was after all a friend of mother's and Gohan's wife. Also Pan and Bra got along like me and Goten did.  
  
"Yeah, I thought it would be good to get her mind away from mum and dads absence." I shrugged and crossed my arms as though the thought was far from my mind and only a passing comment. Never the less I still saw her frown as she remembered her own missing husband. Gohan had of course left to help mum find Vegeta.  
  
Videl rubbed her bottom lip with a thumb. "Do you think they will be long away? It has been about 9 months now." I sighed slightly at this.  
  
"I'm sure they won't be far. Knowing mum like I do, she'll be back right on time. They'll be back in about three months like she said." I smiled reassuringly and asked if she wanted a flute of wine. Videl liked bubble white wine.  
  
Goten bounded over to me and mussed my hair. "Ach! Watch it man, I only just managed to smooth those annoying fly-aways this morning." I laughed as I ran my left hand back through my short purple hair.  
  
"So what's up with Capsule Corp, I heard you were having some problems." Goten asked with his usual wide-eyed innocence. Videl nodded to me and walked back over to where Chichi and some of the other mothers were discussing politics.  
  
I nodded with a frown. "Yeah, there's just this jack ass which thinks I'm a slacker because I decided to sleep in last Saturday. I may remind you that was the first time I've done any thing of the sort since mum made me stand- in President." I rolled my eyes and stuffed my hands in my tan moleskin pants.  
  
"Ah, I bet I know what jack ass that is." Muttered Goten as he leaned back against the wall behind us. "Hickey Hickman right?" He smirked.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah sure.. hickey.. you know I heard he's going through some relationship problems. I doubt he'd be getting any hickeys from his wife." I leaned my head against the hard board.  
  
Goten gave a short laugh. "Of course not. That's why he has that little bit on the side." He smirked darkly with a tad of disgust.  
  
I opened my eyes. "He's cheating on his wife?!" I said incredulously. This was interesting. So Mr Hickman was not so perfect after all.  
  
"Yeah and guess who with.." spat Goten. " 'President' Weis's daughter." I stared at Goten in disbelief. Weis's daughter was none other than Paris, Goten's girlfriend. I frowned, he must be messed up over that, I thought.  
  
"Damn, Goten I'm sorry." Goten just shook his head with a sigh.  
  
"Ah, its okay Trunks. I should have listened when you said that any 'Weis' is a waste of time." My frown deepened at this. Every one new Goten had been in love with Paris Weis. When I had told him that he had decked me for it, and I understood why. It had been rude of me to say that about Paris. I didn't really know what to say to him now so I just listened and supported him through it like a good friend should.  
  
The party was good for him, Goten had always been a social person and being around others that he knew helped. It was Bra's 6th birthday. I had managed to get today off work so I could have it with her. She had all her friends from pre-school and their parents and the event was calm and happy. Bra was only upset in the morning when mum and dad weren't there for her.  
  
Goten grummbled to him self a few more times before he smiled and sighed. "Well, it's not like I can really do any thing about it now right?" he wiggled his shoulders before giving me a frown. "Hey, you don't think having Hickman dating the daughter of you rival company's President is any thing to worry about do you?" he asked bitterly.  
  
I looked up at him in surprise. Something just clicked. "Do you know how long Paris has been going out with Hickman?" I stood up and looked at him seriously. Goten's eyes widdened.  
  
"Well, I think about a month at least." He shrugged. I looked away to the carpet, bitting my lip in thought.  
  
"Well.. it looks like I may have a rat."  
  
~*~  
  
I looked through the company records over the past month and then I found it. Missing reports, cases of stolen blueprints, which had never been told to me, and over a million dollars in sales stolen. Why did I not know of this?! The answer was Hickman had not told me, because Hickman was the thief. I stood over my desk, the papers pointing to his guilt. I fumed. I was angry like I had never been before. I grounded my teeth together and a long angry hiss passed between my lips. When my mother found out about this she would never leave me in charge again. I would look like a fool and a child in the eyes of my father. How DARE Hickman steal from my family! He was a trusted employee and friend of my mothers! How COULD he!  
  
I seethed inside. Rage boiling within me. The air about me sparked and crackled. That spineless fucking asshole!  
  
I stormed out of the room, passing Goten in the hall. He took one look at me and tackled me from behind. "What are you doing?!" He picked me up and shoved me into the wall. "You can't go after him now! Not when you're this angry! You're likely to kill him in this state. I know he hurt you're great pride Trunks but you have to cool it and relax." I glared at him for a full half minute before I was calm enough for words.  
  
"Do you know what he's done?!" I hissed and pushed Goten back. "Come with me, I'll show you!" I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back into my office to the desk. I gestured at all the papers. "This is proof of his guilt!" I looked up at Goten who looked over the papers with wide eyes. "He's been stealing money, blueprints and reports and giving them to that prick Weis!" I waved my arms at the window.  
  
Goten was silent as he read the papers one after the other, his frown creasing his forehead. "Hmm." He scratched his cheek. "I see.."  
  
I growled and booted the trash bin into the wall with a loud clang. "He's been doing it for about two months! Two months of an advantage Weis has over Capsule Corp!" Goten looked up at me seriously.  
  
"You have to do some thing about this quickly.." he said so quietly it was almost a whisper.  
  
I looked up at him. There was something hard and glass-like in his dark eyes. I would do something quickly alright.  
  
~*~  
  
I stood on the grass lawn. Yellow and orange light flickered over me and I smiled. The fire was beautiful. Especially at night. I had waited a week, until Hickman's wife and family went away for a holiday in Fiji. It had been a gift from me to Hickman for a job well done. Hickman had been unable to go because of 'work'. I made sure of that.  
  
I don't know why I did what I did. I was like a compulsion I had never felt before now. Something born from stress and despair. My life had once been so carefree. Now, it seemed unnatural to work every day in the same room always. Always the same. Something inside of me had screamed for release from the constant boredom and build up of energies. I was not meant to sit seemingly idly behind a desk every day for hours looking over papers. I was meant to be out in the wilderness, out having fun with Goten, living a simple happy life. I was meant to have a family that was there to help me in my times of trouble, and I was meant to be there for them when they were in trouble. And I was. I was here managing my mother's business. I was here helping Goten through his break up. I was here to help Bra. It was like I was an orphan. Sometimes in the night I would wake up and believe my parents to be dead and it would just be me and Bra, all alone in the world. The house was so quiet at night. So deadly quiet. No breath. No sound. No nothing.  
  
Some times I would sit in my office and there would be that same silence. Like nothing but I was alive in the world. It was times like that I wondered why I was even here. Why was I in this plain dull office? For my mother, I would remind my self. And for Bra.  
  
For all of us. So we could live a full life, happy and safe. But I wasn't happy. And my life was boring me and a great tension was building up inside. Then when Hickman had betrayed my family, it was like a way out.  
  
So I stood there on the lawn. The grass was cool beneath my bare feet. I was going to have to leave soon before some one saw me. I liked he flames. They reminded me of battles in the past. I missed those. There were no more threats in the world. So there was no need for those great heroic battles like when I was a boy. Buu was long gone. Every thing was at peace.  
  
The fire was raging now. Eating away at the white wooden walls of the house. The palm trees out side the windows were being scorched and blown about by the rising heat. I saw a shadow thumping its fists against the blacked out windows. I imagined he would be getting carbon all over his hands.  
  
I knew he could see me. In his last moments he would know his treachery had not gone unnoticed. It was too late for him now. I imagined it would be hard to breathe in there. The fire would be sucking up all the oxygen and the smoke would be making his head feel heavy. He would be coughing.  
  
I smiled at him and gave a small wave. I was angry still. But later.. later I knew I would be feeling different.  
  
I saw flashing lights in the distance and I rose into the air and flew as fast as I could up through the clouds and out into the pure night.  
  
~*~  
  
I threw up in the toilet with gusto then I knelt in front of the porcelain throne with reverence. I felt sick to my stomach with what I had done. How could I have killed him! I was disgusted. I threw up again and then dry reached. Goten was looking at me with quick frightened glances. "Holy shit Trunks!" He gasped. He brought his hands up to raked them through his ebony hair. "How did you do that?! How could you actually kill some one like that!" he was shaking. I could see his sweat. I was frightened too. The feelings inside me made me reach again. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and then stumbled into the bathroom to wash my face. Goten flushed the toilet for me.  
  
"I don't know Goten.." I shook my head. I had the beginnings of a bad headache. "I don't know why I did it.." I turned about to face him, my face was pale and haggard. "It just seemed to me at the time, blinded by rage that I was, it seemed the only plausible way of dealing with him." How could I explain that at the time, his death was the only thing that came to me.  
  
It was like some alien distant part of me had reached up out of the void in my mind and said, 'Death to the traitor.'  
  
I whispered those words out loud and Goten looked at me in horror. "So that's what you were thinking! You.. you were thinking like.. like.." he shook his head and blinked at me. I knew what he was going to say. I was thinking like a Saiyan. And that didn't mean a Saiyan like my father or like his father, but a Saiyan like Raditz. One that hadn't been softened by Earth. I had been told of the story of Raditz. How he had stolen Gohan and said Goku was a traitor to his kind and should die for it. It was one of the simpler stories of the past before me and Goten were born. Cell and Frieza had been much worse. But when I had heard that story about Raditz, it had struck a cord in me.  
  
It was impossible. What I had done had been wrong. No one must ever find out. "No one must know Goten!" I whispered harshly.  
  
Goten looked at me with his large dark innocent eyes and slowly nodded his head. "No one must know Trunks." He repeated and sighed, turning his face to look at his feet.  
  
~**~  
  
TBC..  
And that's chapter two, well, I'm getting along nicely. I hope I don't get any more complaints about slow posting.. you know life sometimes gets in the way of writing, as sad and horrible as that truth is.  
  
Chapter three is already underway and I'll have it posted by next Thursday at least.  
  
I hope you all like how this stories heading, thanks to all of you that have reviewed so far! In comparison to Distant Light Years I only had about three reviews by the second chapter all those months ago. Hehehee..  
  
I would also like to say to Chunky Monkey, I loved your review. I really appreciate reviews like that; they help me become a better writer. Though I have to say, I wasn't bashing dear old Yamcha, I just needed a scapegoat and I had a coin toss between Goku and Yamcha. Sadly the ex-bandit lost. Also I promise I'll try and get to reading your fanfic soon Chunky, I just have this little problem where I can only get on the net once a week every Thursday and only for an hour. Oh how that pains me so.. ~sob~ But like I said, life gets in the way of things. I'll read it and eventually review it, I promise.  
  
I would also like to say to Darkened Chivalry, I also love your reviews.. hehehee..and every thing else. ^_~  
  
And to any of you out there who have been fans of Distant Light Years. Get your asses in here and review! Heh.  
Well, chow for the mo,  
  
~Dynishra The Vampire~ 


	4. Chp 3 Haunted

Hello people in the world. Thanks for your great reviews! Just a note, this song below is by a New Zealand band named Pacifier who really REALLY rock! They use to be called Shihad but changed their name to sell albums in the USA. Go buy their album named Pacifier! It is a great example of excellent Kiwi music. And no.. they did not pay me to write that about them, I'm just a crazed fan! Wahoo.. any way.. I thought it was an appropriate piece of music for this story.  
Chapter Three: Haunted  
  
~Inside,  
  
I'm all twisted round,  
  
Feeling uptight,  
  
And I can't come down.  
  
Then I need some one to sell me..  
  
I'm safe again  
  
And I need some body to tell me  
  
That they really care!  
  
(Chorus)  
  
What have we become..  
  
Could you comfort me,  
  
Comfort me..  
  
The whole world's come undone,  
  
Could you comfort me,  
  
Comfort me..  
  
Back up,  
  
Evolution here.  
  
All the sick fucks,  
  
Being born to kill.  
  
They just need some one to sell them,  
  
That it's safe again..  
  
They all need some one to tell them,  
  
That some body cares!  
  
(Chorus)  
  
What have we become..  
  
Could you comfort me,  
  
Comfort me..  
  
The whole world's come undone,  
  
Could you comfort me,  
  
Comfort me..  
  
You're gonna bring the whole world down!  
  
Bring the whole world down!  
  
(Chorus x2)  
  
'Comfort Me.' By 'Pacifier'.  
~Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature.~ William Shakespeare.  
There was a funeral. Being Matthew Hickman's boss it was my obligation to see his charred remains sent into the earth inside a wooden box. I didn't want people being suspicious if I didn't turn up.  
  
His wife was there with his son and two daughters. The girls were crying, the son was trying to be a man and keep his head high. I knew he would cry later. I had suffered the same pride when my father had died when I was eight. They all threw white roses on his coffin; I threw a yellow one.  
  
It didn't really surprise me to see Mr Weis there with Paris. They stood on the out side of the mourning ring. Not wanting to interfere or be involved in any markable way. They didn't want to be remembered.  
  
Paris was crying. I felt no pity for her, only for Goten who had wasted so many hours on her. She was a beautiful woman, long legs and blond hair, not all that smart but she had cunning. Though cunning with out intellect usually leads to a downfall.  
  
Weis on the other hand, was a dark greying older man. His eyes reminded me of pits in the earth full of slithering worms. When he looked at me, it sent chills down my spine. I could sense his aura unlike other people could and his aura was cold and dark. I hated shaking his hands. They reminded me of the skin of a corpse. And he always knew things. He had spies every where. I saw him walking towards me now in his dark grey coat and business hat. It was a chilly winter's morning. I was only dressed in a simple black suit with a red tie. I knew the tie was out of place but naturally I didn't really care about that. This funeral was giving me the creeps.  
  
"Well, hello there Trunks Briefs." He said in that emotionless cold voice. I swear, he was like an android or something.  
  
I was irritated in his lack of formal respect. I decided to pay him the same courtesy. "Hello Weis." I spoke coldly, starring right into his dark eyes. I saw him blink slightly and flinch. He wasn't frightened of me, was he? The thought gave me a strange thrill. My azure blue eyes never moved from his.  
  
"I know what you did Mr Briefs." He said in a breath just above a whisper. I froze inside. Must stay calm! He can't know of me..?! I never let him faze me for a moment; I never let my shock show.  
  
"Oh, and what did I do?" I asked with the innocence of the guiltless. I carelessly slid my hands into my pockets. It was a youthful habit I was never to break.  
  
His eyes widened slightly. I knew he thought to catch me out. It wasn't going to happen though. I was too good at this. With Vegeta for a father, controlling your emotions had been a necessity.  
  
"The fire, it was you're doing. I saw you." He muttered with that same odd nervousness. He really was frightened of me, wasn't he?  
  
I clenched my brows together in rage and hissed between my teeth. "How dare you! Matthew was a good friend of mine!" My hands left their pockets and clenched into fists. Rage was becoming easier to grasp. I would worry about that later though. "How dare you insinuate that I caused that fire! You have no proof! Besides the fire department already stated it was an electrical fire!" It sure had been.  
  
Weis rocked slightly on his feet. I realised he had thought with a little pressure from some one older and authoritative that I might crack. Tough luck, he obviously never met my father. I snarled in a rather primal way and hissed at him in the same low voice. "Go back to your hole Weis and concentrate on your defeat instead of trying to lay murder on me!" With that I turned around and stalked off, the indignant friend of the recently deceased.  
  
Weis stood still, watching me go before he took his daughters arm and slow turned away to his black limousine.  
  
~*~  
  
By the time I got home I was a shivering wreck. How had he known?! How had he known I had killed Hickman! I knelt before my bed and rested my head on the sheets. Wait.. he must only suspect.. because Hickman had been working undercover for him, that his untimely death could only have been from me because I had found out about his laundering scheme. Still, Weis could never prove it and he could never tell the law because he had also been breaking it.  
  
I relaxed a little. Nothing could come of this. I sighed out loud and closed my eyes. Tomorrow I could assign a new Board manager. And it would be a woman.  
  
~*~  
  
Three months had passed, it was a week before mother, Goku and Gohan were due back. I was hoping beyond belief that they would have father and I could go back to having a normal life. I had already gathered information on colleges that I wanted to attend. And in no way did I want to follow business. I wanted to follow the arts, martial arts preferably but I knew that I would have to do several other courses with that. Since I had always done well in art history and classics at school I decided I would take courses in those as well. Goten had already started at Orange Star College. I wanted to go to the same one, but if I wanted to get a martial arts degree it looked like I may have to go to Satan College. What a joke that would be, it was run by Videl's father Mr Satan. I couldn't imagine me learning any thing interesting there.. but I did want the degree. The degree followed the art form of martial arts rather than the fighting form. It would be interesting. With any luck I may become a teacher, a sensei in the future. My father, I think, would accept that. I could then teach his art of fighting, the same he had taught me.  
  
It was a nice dream.  
  
Suddenly there was a deep rumbling noise. My mug rattled in its coaster and I stood up and stared out the window off my office. Landing slowly was the capsule ship my mother had taken. With a grin I raced down the stairs and out the front door. I ran over the lawns and street to the labs where the ship had landed. Goten had reached there before me. "Your too slow man." He elbowed me in the side of my navy blue suit.  
  
"I was just taking my time to sniff the roses." I laughed. The door of the ship slowly opened and Goku jumped out. He looked tired and dejected and instantly I knew they had failed.  
  
Mother and Gohan followed the usually sprightly Saiyan and they smiled warily at us. I felt the huge weight of loss suddenly turn to lead inside me. Mother walked over and gave me a hug. "We tried Trunks.. we looked for so long.. but.." She shook her head against my chest and I slowly wrapped my arms around her. I nodded my head and sighed.  
  
'I know, it's okay, he'll return in his own time." I whispered and I looked over at the Sons who were all talking quietly after they had exchanged hugs.  
  
His own time though, I thought, may not be the time he believes it is..  
  
~*~  
  
"I think it would be for the best darling," She continued to say. I sat there glowering like a sulking little child.  
  
"But I want to go to college!" I said heatedly, standing from the dinning table chair. My blue eyes sparked with rage.  
  
Mum sighed and looked away for a moment, collecting her self. "But Trunks, I think you're ready to be President of Capsule Corps, I want to focus my concentration on finding Vegeta. I can't do that and be President, Trunks." She looked so sincere. She wanted to get away from those conniving money hungry businessmen as much as I did.  
  
I stared at her long and hard. I didn't want to give in, but I understood her cause only too well. I wanted to be like other 18-year-olds so much! I wanted to go out and have fun! And learn and have millions of friends and millions of girls. Get drunk, experiment, get into fights, laugh and be happy. Like Goten. Mum was asking me to give up the normal larking life of an 18-year-old freshman and run a multi-billion dollar business. I didn't even have the qualifications for it.  
  
"You did such a good job while I was away Trunks. You really impressed me." She smiled in that proud mum way. Oh Kami! But I hated this! It was against my nature! I bet even my forefathers got out every day to bang heads together on Planet Vegeta. I would be trapped, like a doll in a box, like Matthew in his coffin, in that office. Unable to escape. I knew I could do it and be good at it too. But if I was to be President, there was going to be some changes.  
  
I gave a great sigh of defeat. "Fine.. but remember, I will rule as I see fit." Mum gave me a great beaming smile, ignoring my terms and threw her arms about me. I gave a begrudging smile and prepared to sign my soul away to the corporate devil. Rule as I see fit. I thought that over.. Did that mean I would.. dispose of others like I had of Matthew? NO! Never again! He had not been some utterly evil being with the intent of the destruction of the planet. Neither were the others, or Weis for that matter. I silently vowed never to kill another innocent person as long as I lived.  
  
Little did I know how much of a liar I was. To my self, to every one.  
  
~*~  
  
I heard my mother suddenly laugh as she pulled a box out of a cupboard in her lab. "Well would you look at this! It must have been here for years!" She grinned and pulled out a picture frame. She was in the process of clearing her junk out of this old lab to move into one of the brand new ones across the street so she could set up radio equipment here to find father. It was my day off and darling mother thought that since I wasn't doing anything it would be healthy for me to help her. I felt a loud sigh coming.  
  
She blew at the defiant dust and then gave it an unruly scowl at its disobedience. She trotted over to me with a smile and handed me the picture frame. It was small, about the size of a man's hand span and was simple painted wood the colour of Bra's eyes.  
  
I froze when I saw the picture its self. It sent a strange chill down my spine. The first person I noticed in the group photo was my self. Well, at lest I could have been mistaken for him. He was me, but a me from a different future all together. It was Mirai Trunks. He was giving a winked salute to the camera. His long lilac hair fanned about his face like I knew mine could, but it was lighter, sun worn. His skin was darker, beaten, he was a solider. A warrior.  
  
To his right was a scowling Piccolo, who obviously wanted nothing to do with the picture or the people in it. Yet in his eyes there was the light of protection.  
  
To Mirai's left was Yamcha, in a way I had never seen him. His now long hair was a buzz cut and he wore a simple sleeveless orange gi. He had the spark of a fighter as well, which astonished me.  
  
Above him was Tien who I had only met briefly and then to Tien's right was my father. He looked furious, he was snarling at them, half turned away wearing a bright yellow shirt. I smirked silently and roved my eyes to the three below Mirai.  
  
It was a much younger pre-teen Gohan, with golden spiky hair; his fist raised in triumph and Goku, also Super Saiyan ginning into the camera. His other arm about a very bald Krillin. I could barely stifle my giggling, I had never seen the short-man bald though I had heard about it enough.  
  
"My Kami.." I breathed with a smile and my eyes drifted up to Mirai Trunks again. I stiffened once more and stared at him. He had that silent sad strength about him. Like a saint he was. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was me.. and I was him. But I bet he had never killed an innocent. My face darkened. He was pure and good. I was.. what was I? Wasn't I pure and good too? Every one else thought so.  
  
As I looked into Mirai's eyes it seemed to me that his pleasant face suddenly changed. His arm dropped to his side and his eyes narrowed darkly. A furious scowl came to his face. He stared at me like I was the devil. And he had come back to wipe me from the Earth. His thin lips opened, revealing small sharp teeth. He whispered in my ear, "I know what you are, you are nothing like me." Then it seemed that he roared and leapt out of the picture to throttle me with his bare scared hands and I let out a frightened cry and dropped the frame. The glass smashed like a small spray of light on the cold concrete floor. I stared at its shattered face, panting for breath, my eyes wide. It was normal again. Trunks was giving me a winked salute. Mum hurried over when she heard the sound of smashing glass. "Oh Trunks! You're so clumsy.. Now I will have to find a new frame." She tutted and shook her head as she shifted the picture from the broken blue frame and walked away without looking at me. She called over her shoulder, "Clean up that glass Trunks." She walked out the door.  
  
I stood still in the dark silence of the room for several minutes, learning how to breathe again.  
  
~*~  
  
I smiled smugly at their bleached faces. "But you can't fire us Mr Briefs! Union rules state that.."  
  
"I have made a new Union, one which the other employees are flocking to join." I smiled professionally at them and gestured to the door. "Now please gentlemen, respect my decision. I was going to hire Mrs Blackett as new Chairman, then when mother personally handed me over as full time President I decided I wanted new rules." I smiled again politely. "I decided I don't need a board. I'll hand your responsibilities on lesser employees."  
  
They gobbled like drowning fish and blinked looking at one another.  
  
"If you wish to be re-employed in another part of Capsule Corps I'd be happy to look into it for you and guarantee you jobs else where here." I steepled my fingers on the table as I leaned forward. "In fact, I insist that you do. I don't want you running over to Weis now.. do I." I know I said that with more menace than necessary but I was tired and wrung out. My nerves were frayed to the stitches and I was in dire need of a coffee. Also I was feeling rather freaked out about recent strange events that were imposing on to my life in drastic and unpleasant ways. One by one the five of them looked at me with mixed feelings. I saw concealed anger, confusion and concern. I ignored their faces, I had told them what I wanted so that was how it was going to be.  
  
I was in control now. And I was hating it already.  
  
~*~  
  
Burning! My flesh was burning! It was melting from my charred bones like roasted pork. I screamed with the agony! Fire burned down my throat, melting my lungs with in my chest. And I was STILL ALIVE!  
  
I sat up screaming and slapping at my skin, yanking out great tuffs of purple hair. "Oh Kami!" I panted. I curled into a ball, shaking. My skin was slick from sweat. I was just a dream..  
  
Just a fucking nightmare. "Oh fuck.." I clenched my eyes shut. I hoped no one had heard me scream. "Shit.. shit.." I cursed. The dream has been so real! Like it was happening right now. I gave a shuddering sob. Kami! The fear! Oh Kami, I had never been so frightened in my life! Not even when I had faced Buu. I was shaking. I was still in my room. In my bed. The darkness lay about me, a subtle shade of grey.  
  
The realisation came to me suddenly that Hickman had died that way. Burning alive and aware. He hadn't died from smoke at all. He had suffered. I gave a cry of agony for what I had done to him, the full realising guilt burning me again like the dream fire. Tears of shame flowed down my cheeks. And they wouldn't stop..  
  
And the tears did not stop the burning pain..  
  
I heard a voice right next to my right ear, "Murderer!" it hissed with venom and I twisted about in shock. Gasping I looked about but there was no one there. My eyes wide I focused my vision to the mirror opposite me. There sat Mirai Trunks in the mirror, just like he had been in the picture. Looking at me with utter loathing. "Murderer." He spat and I screamed.  
  
Pure terror! Unlike any thing I had ever imagined. He was haunting me! This image of who I could have been!  
  
"STOP IT!" I cried, my voice hoarse and quivering, my whole body shaking. "STOP IT!" I screamed as he smirked at me through the glass and I stood up in frightened rage throwing the hot sweaty blankets from me.  
  
I walked over to the mirror that mocked me from the other side of the room. Mirai Trunks stood too, marching defiantly to confront me. I glared at him and he glared back, my face was tear stained and red, but his was smooth and beautiful. Like it had been in the photo.  
  
"MURDERER!" He screamed with rage as I screamed and smashed my fist through the mirror and the wall behind it. The glass shattered and fell, slashing my arm. I stumbled back with a shaky sob. My blood ran hot down my arm, the river of my life staining the grey carpet. I looked down to watch the stain slowly spread, tears still running as free as the blood. The river wound between the broken mirror pieces, splattering over them like a scarlet veil. I caught my eyes looking back at me a hundred-fold from those pieces. All those eyes scowled as one and I realised it was him!  
  
Still he was there! Looking back at me! I started to shake and quiver; my face was white and pasty. Then in a hundred voices, separate faces screamed at me. "MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER!"  
  
On and on he screamed at me! I ran, trying to escape him! But the door wouldn't open! I tried so hard to bang it down but my strength failed me and I felt my mind going hazy from the loss of blood. I whimpered and fell to the floor. I crawled away from the broken mirror pieces in to the far corner of my room, leaving a trail of blood by which he could find me! And I sobbed like a baby, curled up in a bloody ball.  
  
Still he screamed at me! I could hear him from my corner. I could still hear him screaming! How he hated me..  
  
How I hated me.  
  
Then the darkness came and claimed me.  
  
~*~  
  
TBC..  
  
Karma people. Karma aways bites you on the ass.  
  
Poor Trunks is witnessing the effects of karma and guilt.  
  
I hope you like the story so far..  
  
Blood, gore and mayhem. And an extra serving of madness. That's the motto of this story.  
  
Don't forget to read and review. ^_~  
  
Chow for the mo..  
~Dynishra The Vampire~ 


	5. Chp 4 Death of Innocents aka Spiral into...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you.. Chapter Four.  
  
BUWAHAHAHAHAAAA! *evil cackle fades away into the gloomy darkness of the author's depraved mind *  
Warning: This chapter's not for the faint hearted. All those with weak bowels *snigger * are advised to have a bucket. Contains: Hallucinations, character death, more death, graphic violence, blood, madness, insanity, evil-ness, Saiyan-ness and a sword wielding lilac haired honey.  
Chapter Four: Death of Innocents a.k.a Spiral into Madness.  
I dropped my pen with a sigh. Writing, writing, always fucking writing. "God damn it!" I cursed and stood up violently, shoving my chair back. With a venomous snarl I stormed down the hallways of Capsule Corps. "Goten, you worm!" I cried as I shoved my way into the lounge. This building was simply FAR too small for my tastes. I found the dullard examining Edmunds polished skull with a magnifying glass. I slumped into the couch beside him, he totally ignored me and I focused my attention on the far wall. I examined the fine grained wood for about an hour, pondering over how precisely a knee connects with a femur and deciding that when I next get the chance that I would have to do a little experiment. Blinking I snarled at Goten, "When is my blasted castle going to be ready? I'm about to crack heads open if it isn't finished soon."  
  
Goten sighed and threw the skull casually against the far wall with a dull thud. "I don't know, about I week I believe.. Ask Gohan, he's the one fussing over it. Honestly, anything to take his mind off his normal urges.. it's unnatural." He drummed his fingers together with a single short hum. "I'm bored." He complained tonelessly. I smirked slightly and pondered over something.  
  
"I heard there was a village of rebels out south." I muttered, a small smile playing on the edge of my lips. I unconsciously ran a finger through my waist length purple hair. Goten's head snapped in my direction and it reminded me of a dog called to food. There was a slight twinkle in his eye. Ah, that dear twinkle. He had lost that when he married Bra, but since her death.. I could not deny I was happy to see it again. It meant fun. It meant blood and battles.  
  
Goten slowly turned away from me and sighed with a kind of relief. "Can we go and.."  
  
"Of course.." I said before he finished. I saw him grin like a happy child. He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I thought you were working on that .. thing you were writing. Since I suggested it, you seemed quite taken with the task." He hummed. I shrugged. The reason for the break was quite obvious.  
  
"I was getting restless." I smirked. "I'll continue it after I work off a little steam." My mind was suddenly taken by the sound of crunching skulls and I sat in a silent daze for several minutes, ignorant of the world, just thinking about that sound. Goten was use to it, and as if in an unconscious attempt to restrain my inner ravaging mind he hummed that little ditty which helps me to keep my cool. It was from a band which had long ago been forgotten in the dust of time.  
  
But back when I had just started as President of Capsule Corps, some 249 odd years ago, they were a band loved by Goths and Punks alike. As well as the average disobedient rebels. I had first started humming it when I spent long hours in front of imbeciles and paper work. I didn't want to fly off the handle and scare some one back then ..did I.  
  
Too bad that by then I had already killed one person. I was frightened of my self. Frightened of what I might do, that I was loosing control of my inner demons. I was afraid that I was loosing my human side. And damn the song was so appropriate..  
  
~*~  
  
~Two hundred and forty nine years earlier~  
  
It had been two days since my badly shaken ordeal that night. Still I remembered those rough screams from a voice that sounded just like mine. Whenever I thought about it, it sent shivers down my spine. Shivers, ha, more like quivering waves of turmoil. I was sitting at my desk chewing on the end of my pen. The little blue nub was almost worn through by the constant nervous grinding of my teeth. I knew I was paranoid. The little fire, which had so horribly ended Matthew Hickman's life, had been cleared of suspicion weeks ago. But to tell the truth, I was over being nervous of that. I was more worried that demonic futuristic apparition would once more appear to haunt my nightmares.  
  
Goten had found me huddled and bleeding that morning. If it had been any one else who had found me I would have blasted them away out of humiliation. He had been so frightened and worried for me. He though it was the guilt getting to me. In some ways he had been right. But I told him what I had seen. He cleaned up the broken mirror for me, no questions asked. I knew he was horribly worried for me. I could see it in his eyes. But he never ignored me or left me alone, and for that I was grateful.  
  
I had flicked on the stereo in my office about an hour ago, trying to take my mind off my constantly dark thoughts by the melodies of the good old- fashioned radio. I was not really listening to the music any more, my mind had defied my attempts to ignore my thoughts and stubbornly ignored the music instead.  
  
~ Drowning deep in my see of loathing..~  
  
I cast my eyes over to a happy photo of my family and me. Well, it was what I thought of as happy. Dad was not snarling at least, though what others might think of that staunch icy glare, who knows. I saw my self, a laughing 16 year old. That was just two years ago. Fuck, my life had gone to hell since then. And look at me, so happy and carefree. I would give any thing to be that innocent again. But no.. I was.. what that demon in the mirror had said I was.  
  
~ Broken your servant I kneel..~  
  
Father was gone, mother spent every hour of the day she could looking through that big telescope; listening to the solar air waves of deep space. Calling out over the mic, hoping for a response. So desperate and pathetic it seemed. And here I was, the son of Kings, sitting at a desk riffling uselessly through papers that meant nothing. This business was petty. And I was the petty Prince that ran it.  
  
~ Can you give it to me..~  
  
All the time, constantly I had people asking me for better things, more things, we want this, we want that. Constantly.. demand, demand, demand. How had my mother coped? Well, for one she DIDN'T dismiss her board. I though about it for a moment. I knew I could hire people to do all this paper work crap. At least the minor bull shit, that would cut my day in half. Then I would have more spare time to follow other pursuits. More time to spar and fight. Perhaps.. I could even train hard enough to be in this year's world tournament. I had to up hold my title right? Though this year I would be moving into the adults division. Not that that made much of a difference, it just meant my weakling opponents would be taller.  
  
~ It seems what's left of my human side is changing..~  
  
I felt a sudden memory of my hot thick blood running down my forearm to drip and splatter on to those broken pieces of mirror. To seep, thick and warm into the carpet. I unconsciously licked my lips thinking about it. My thoughts changed to the battles I had been in. The satisfaction of feeling your opponent's body give way to a striking punch, or the sound of the ribs popping as they snap. The heat and power as my body would move as sleek and fast as a leopard. I was like a lion when I went Super. My great golden mane, my brilliant jade green eyes. I was lithe and fast. The epitome of my Saiyan heritage. The streamlined Prince. When I fought, I made my father proud. Sitting in this dull office was bursting the energy in me. I had to get out! To get away! To find some other way to sate my strength. My power.. I had so much of it. Not just physical power either. But I had the ruling capabilities of a Prince of my people. Saiyans and humans alike. They were both my people after all..  
  
~ Can you give it to me..~  
  
I had to find away to use this power. This power being President of Capsule Corps gave me. I craved more than this petty office with its weak willed grey workers. Nerdy little creatures. I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps.. but no, Gohan seemed to love his teaching job. Why would he want to work for me? Perhaps the money.. But he had never been one to fall for things of material value, too much like his father in that aspect. He was too much the family man. Perhaps.. perhaps he may like the challenge. Gohan had always loved challenges. I just knew he would be able to help me spread my tendrils of influence into the ruling class of the world. My eyes twinkled with mischief.. dare I?!  
  
~ Is slowly changing in me..~  
  
Dare I further my pursuits for power?! I didn't really need it.. of course not. But, for once it seemed so alluring. To have control.. over so many. I could use Capsule Corps as a political battleship. Perhaps it was my inner Saiyan craving for my heritage that had begun to burn away inside. Perhaps it was sparked by the absence of my father. All I knew was for once I was beginning to feel like I needed to be MORE. Do MORE. Have people do MORE for me.. come at my will, go at my will. Live by my will. Die by my.. I blinked. Die.. like Hickman. I thought for a moment that I heard a distant strained voice screaming.. 'Murderer..' so far away. Like I was hearing it from across a great gulf in time and space.  
  
~Looking at my own reflection..~  
  
Suddenly I thought I heard the sound of heavy forced breathing. The panting of a man who had just cut his way through his enemies like a hunter with a machete through the jungles. I looked up and saw him! There he was standing in front of me. His coarse denim jacket was torn and his black singlet had seen better days. His black pants had great bloody rifts in the fabric and the flesh underneath. His long hair was tied back but many strands had come loose to fan about his face like a lilac curtain. His face was covered in blood and dirt. Sweat beaded on his brow and ran down his nose. He was panting, a short thick sword grasped in his right hand, his sapphire eyes were full of malice.  
  
~ When suddenly it changes..~  
  
I sat up straight backed in shock. My prim navy suit now seemed gaudy and ornamental in front of his extreme martial appeal. He slapped his left hand down wetly on the polished wooden desk.  
  
"Which one.." he growled out. I blinked and stared at him. Was he really there? Or was he just some figment from my.. changing mind? He snarled and flicked his sword out, to my shock the point of the blade slashed open my cheek. The harsh stinging pain followed the sudden hot flow of blood down my face. He looked like a weary fighter, one who had come far and fought many for something grandly important to him. Even through the pain and blood on my face, I was still unsure if he really existed at all.. or weather he was.. nothing at all.  
  
"Which future I say!" he growled and stabbed his sword violently into the wooden table.  
  
~ Violently it changes..~  
  
I instantly admired him through my fear. He was me. He was Trunks Briefs. A great war hero. Or perhaps he was a great villain depending on which side you were on. Was I a hero or a villain? Which one did I want to be..? I sucked in a breath of air sharply. How could I question that?! I was always the hero! Trunks Briefs, born hero. There was no other option. And what was he talking about, which future?  
  
"What do you mean?" I said firmly despite the fear that was growing within me by the moment. Was this just going to be like the other night.. when I saw that face in the mirror?!  
  
~ I know, there is no turning back now..~  
  
He stared deep into me with blue eyes of malice. Deep into my soul, where he saw the taint. He saw the murderer in me. Then suddenly I realised! He was me! Not Mirai Trunks! He was me.. but years from now! He was my future.. not that other future, but the future of this time line! I stared at him in wonder at this realisation. I scanned my eyes over him, I have to remember! This is who I want to be! This is who I will be! I silently wondered who it was this me had been killing so very recently.  
  
I saw his lips move into a dark smirk. His long butt length hair swayed slightly as he stood back, straighter, with more strength. "So, that is what you choose.. to be me?" he asked some what mockingly. For the first time I noticed the emblem on his jacket was not the usual Capsule Corps logo.. but a strange design I knew I had seen somewhere before stitched in roughly with scarlet silk thread. I thought his words odd.. did I have no other choice but to be this magnificent self before me? It was like he could hear my thoughts, and perhaps he could because he rolled his eyes with an expecting smile and snorted. He dragged his sword out of my desk and glared at me for a second. "You have no idea little boy," He said mockingly, "What you have just done to your self."  
  
He gave a quick dark smirk and then after I blinked he was gone. Then I was just looking at the reflection of my self in the wall mirror, a young shorthaired boy in a suit, a cut running blood on to his once perfectly white lapel from his face, looking stunned and strangely excited.  
  
~You've woken up the demon in me..~  
  
~*~  
  
I sat there for many minutes pondering his strange words and listening to the song. It was so unusual. Unlike any song I had ever heard. I tried to tell my self it was the least of my worries but as it continued to play I couldn't help but hear the second verse. It echoed around my head strangely.  
  
~ Madness is the gift that has been given to me  
  
I can see inside you the sickness is rising  
  
Don't try to deny what you feel  
  
It seems that all that was good has died  
  
And is decaying in me  
  
It seems you're having some trouble  
  
In dealing with these changes  
  
Living with these changes  
  
The world is a scary place  
  
Now that you've woken up the demon in me..~  
  
It sent a strange foreboding shiver down my spine. That Trunks had really been there, right? He hadn't been just a manifestation of a warping mind? I clutched the side of my head with sudden fear, by blue eyes wide and my breathing harsh.  
  
"Kami, no.. I am so confused." I whispered. Goten walked into my office soundlessly and stood there watching me for several long seconds. He too heard the last lines of that strange twisted song with the haunting melody.  
  
~ Here it comes, get ready to die..~  
  
The voice screamed the last word like a venomous battle cry and followed with the `Get Down with the Sickness..` chorus. I looked up and saw Goten staring at my stereo with a strange look. It looked like his right eye twitched. He blinked and looked back at me. "Trunks." He said simply, as if suddenly remembering why he was here. He walked forward slowly with odd deliberation and sat back in the chair in front of my desk. He narrowed his eyes at the large slice in my desk. "What is.." he began.  
  
"Uh.. I accidentally.. um.." Damn brain! Can't even lie properly anymore! I gave a huff and told him about the strange apparition and what he had done. Goten jabbed his eyes to my cut cheek with a wince.  
  
"Nasty.. man did he just walk in here and cut you?" he looked angry, but I realised it was more at him self than the apparition. He slowly looked back at me. "Was it like the one in the.. mirror?" he hesitated to bring it up.  
  
I sighed with thought. "Well, no not really, he was more real. Way more real.." I ran my hand down the raw wooden slash in my desk with a frown.  
  
Goten pondered for a minute before he changed topics. "What was the song on your stereo just a minute ago?" he looked up at the stereo which was now playing some R&B crap.  
  
I shrugged. "I don't know, does it matter?" I asked before I sighed again and rested my head into my hands. I had a headache beginning to pound the front of my skull. Goten twiddled his thumbs.  
  
"Well any way.." he began. He swiped his short hair back.  
  
"Oh right!" I said suddenly remembering something. "Can you take this to Gohan for me? I would like him to consider a position here as a business advisor." Goten goggled at me.  
  
"You want Gohan for a business advisor?!" he laughed, giggling he took the paper and read it over. "Well, well, it looks like your serious." He snorted. He gave it a thought and realised that I must have some thing up my sleeve. He gave me one of his rare sly looks. "What's this about? Trying to get one over Weis by using Saiyaman as a means to sabotage enemy lines?" he smirked.  
  
I grinned darkly. "Yeah, some thing like that.."  
  
~*~  
  
~Ten quiet years later, in a part of Satan City..~  
  
"Bad guys! Come out with your hands up and I, the Great Saiyaman! Will not harm you!" Cried Gohan in his Saiyaman get up. He pointed heroically into the air. Next to him, his wife pranced forward.  
  
"And I, Videl Satan! Will send you straight to the slammers where you belong!" The three bank robbers paused before the doors of the bank and their leader shot a round into the air, the hostages cried out, shaking in fear.  
  
"What makes you think we're gonna listen to you, Saiya-dweeb!" he said with a dark chuckle. He was a large muscle-bound man, his thoughts were on two things. The cash and the escape, and if one of these clowns got in his way they were going to taste lead very quickly.  
  
Videl snarled and jumped forward. "Because if you don't bonehead, I'll make sure I'll send you to jail with several badly dislocated vertebrae!" with that she leaped forward.  
  
All Gohan could think was, 'What is she doing! She promised to let me deal with the armed ones!'  
  
There was a loud bang and Videl's whole body seemed to shudder with an unseen force. The bullet went right through her chest and pinged off Gohan's shoulder to his utter shock and surprise. The robbers swore and made a run for their get-away van. Gohan paused, staring in mute shock as Videl fell backwards with a soft sigh to thump onto the pavement with a sickening slap. A shuddering arm slowly rose from the bloody earth and reached towards Gohan. Videl stared at him with watery pleading eyes. She gave a ragged cough and blood spluttered over her pale lips. "Gohan!" she gasped before she gave a choking cough and her arm fell to the earth with a wet thunk and she lay still. Her eyes vacant black orbs.  
  
"Vid..Videl?" Gohan gasped and darted forward to crouch over her body, his hands roamed over her, checking for a pulse. Any sign of life! "Oh Kami.. no.. No.. NOOO!!" he screamed at her lifeless form. "Videl!" he shook her out of desperation. "VIDEL!" He cried and suddenly rage consumed him.  
  
She was dead.. DEAD! Gone from him! This moment would haunt his nightmares for many years to come. With an inhuman scream he summoned all his power and changed, his hair flashed up with golden crackles, yet at the same time a mystical white glow surrounded him with blue lightning. "VIDEL!" he screamed and vanished after the van.  
  
Mech, the leader of the little troupe of bank robbers chuckled merrily to him self. "Well, that showed them. Ha! Now I'll be famous for knocking of Videl Satan!" his other little friends laughed with him, though nervously. Suddenly there came the screech of tearing metal and above them Mech could see two gloved fists tearing through the roof.  
  
"Holy fuck!" cried Regatta as one of those fists reached down and grabbed him by the hair. "Ahhh! Help me! He's gonna kill me!" he panicked. Gohan pulled him up onto the roof, a savage look in his eyes. With a snarl of pure rage he ripped out Regatta's throat with his teeth and yanked off his left arm with a sickening crack. He then tossed the body over his shoulder to tumble back along the road. Gohan, his mind totally taken up in the pure instinct to kill and maim, jumped down into the van and smashed Corbel around the head with Regatta's detached, blood raining arm. Corbel screamed and tried to grab at his gun, but faster than he could contemplate Gohan had him by the base of his rib cage, his gloved hand through his stomach. Corbel coughed, his eyes wide as blood ran down his chin and Gohan gave a sick pull and yanked Corbel's rib cage out through his stomach. Corbel was dropped to the floor, flopping like a dying fish, his limbs twitching.  
  
Mach swerved the van into a building and was saved by his belt, but Gohan went flying through the window screen, shattering the glass like a rainbow of red. Mach jumped out, his breathing harsh, he pulled his gun and pointed it at Saiyaman. "Keep back you monster!" he screamed. He had seen what he had done to his two mates. His pale eyes were wide with fear.  
  
Gohan gave a primal roar and pounced on him mindlessly. The bullets shot into his stomach pinged off him ineffectively. Then unheedful of the bystanders, Gohan ripped Mach into pieces. He ripped a hole in Mach's stomach and started pulling out his bowels laughing darkly at Mach's suffering screams. His lifeblood flooded over Gohan, staining the defender of the Earth scarlet.  
  
~*~  
  
I watched in horror from the pavement as Gohan dealt bloody vengeance on his wife's murderer. I suddenly understood the term 'beserker'. Gohan had lost it. In his grief, his weaker human side had fallen back into the primal Saiyan-ness within. Given way to the darkness which the more rational human-ness could not cope with. I watched him pull the man to pieces until there was just a stripped bloody skeleton, the flesh strewn about madly. He seemed to be wallowing in the man. And he was laughing. A strange unnatural laughter. I had been pulled here by Gohan's sudden dramatic rise in power. His power level right now was enough to make even a fully ascended Goku pause in his tracks. Goten beside me looked with pale unbelieving astonishment. "Oh my Kami.." he breathed before he ran over to tug his brother away from the.. mess.  
  
I quickly followed and we drew Gohan away and brought him swiftly back to Capsule Corps. Goten helped clean his brother up and then we both sat him down on the couch. Gohan didn't move, his face was expressionless. His eyes were vacant black holes. "He's lost it.." sobbed Goten. "Videl's dead and my brother's gone mad!" he wrapped his arms about his frozen unresponsive brother and cried into his shoulder.  
  
Gohan sat like that for three days before tears started to slide uncontrollably down his pale cheeks. Even then it was another several hours before he started to sob, and he suddenly was 'Gohan' again. He cried so painfully and so long, we all, meaning Piccolo, mother, Chichi, Goku, Goten and me supported him through it. But none of us forgot, especially Goku and Chichi, what he had done to those three men.  
  
It had been a boring simple ten years past. Gohan had accepted my offer as advisor and his family had flourished under the extra income. Pan was 19 and engaged to some nobody. And now this had happened to shatter the silent peace.  
  
That night I heard that voice again after so long. I was just drifting off to a difficult sleep when that strange detached voice which sounded like my own, spoke. It sounded harsh and whispery when it said, "It has begun." And then never made another peep for the rest of the night.  
  
~**~  
  
TBC..  
  
Damn. I'm sure most of you will remember Gohan's memory of that moment in Chapter Seven of Distant Light Years. This story is spiralling fast into darkness. Which is, sadly, exactly how it goes.  
  
So.. what did you think? Let me know..  
  
Chow for the mo..  
Her Royal Majesty of Madness and Despair..  
  
~Dynishra The Vampire~ 


	6. Chp 5 Congealing Plot

And for you're entertainment! I give you..  
Chapter Five: Congealing Plot.  
  
~Your walls are made from dirt.  
  
But, sadly, nothing grows but arms  
  
and gangrenous legs. Isn't that ironic.  
  
You thought you'd grow, but no. HA!  
  
Follow the trail, it twines in the black forest.  
  
The foxes have it made. Run on three legs, never on two.  
  
Rules for society, make as much sense.  
  
Never get lost but your lost already. There go your marbles! Look  
  
Watch carefully. They're rolling down from the frontal lobe.  
  
Great green balls. Grass? None as far as I can see.  
  
But this is the black forest. The grass is black, right?  
  
What are you mad?! It's blue of course.  
  
When the end falls over there's nothing but stone.  
  
Stone doesn't grow arms and legs you know.  
  
The proverbial apple with a proverbial worm. The apple is  
  
rotten and there's no worm in sight.  
  
Well if you were a worm, which you are, would you eat the green  
  
or the rosy red. Remember what happened to Snow White. Choked dead.  
  
Killed until death. By the apple who feels no remorse.  
  
So who's your cougar, your puma, your leopard.  
  
Where's that titanium backbone? In your spleen some where?  
  
Out catching someone's sun? What a whore.~ By Dynishra Shin.  
~*~  
  
"I can't believe it.." he gasped. This innocent crusader of the people was shattered. I watched in silence as the immaculate fighter for humanity stared at his sobbing son. His eldest. Gohan, the man who had lost it and murdered three men. They had goaded him, sure, but Goku still couldn't believe. Despair and disbelief flittered over his face like white tainted butterflies. He thought he had taught his son better, he said this with whispery words.  
  
I sighed slightly, tapping my forehead. I was 28 now, not that that meant shit. I looked exactly the same. I would look at my self in the mirror and wonder at it. Sure, I had more lines, brought to me by worry and the pressure of being the President of a multi-billion dollar enterprise. But still essentially, I was young innocent Trunks Briefs. Only two knew the lie. Goten and me. I also believed Weis knew the truth, but that old man was getting as senile as Master Roshi and he couldn't prove it.  
  
I had gown my hair out a little, short enough not to look too feminine, but long enough that I could tie it back out of my face. Still, it had the irritating ability to slip out of the tie and fan in front of my eyes.  
  
Forget my vanity.  
  
Goku had leaned slightly against the wall near me. Feeling uncomfortable when near any one else, I walked around and away from Goku to the opposite side of Gohan. Goten was kneeling by his weeping brother, patting his arm, comforting him. Goku watched them silently, and then with a sigh he smiled sadly and went to hug his eldest.  
  
Good.  
  
I felt relief. Not for Gohan, not for Goku, not for the ties which pull strong families through adversity together. But because I knew Gohan would be useless to me if Goku turned his back on him. Gohan would collapse. Fall into a hole that would inevitably lead him back to his wife. Six feet under most likely. Well, he can let the worms eat him inside out if he wishes, but first he's going to help me out.  
  
That's why I was happy to see Goku pull Gohan up into a manly hug, a pat on the back, sentimentalities stated, love swapped, families smiling. Goten watched, a strange look in his eye I couldn't place. He walked backwards from them and stood by me, never taking his eyes away. I tilted my head to look at his face, but he didn't move. He then grinned. "Thank Kami." He whispered.  
  
It was then I realised how frightened he'd been. Worried his father, the man he really, in truth, didn't know very well, would turn his back on Gohan.  
  
I noticed Chichi peering around the doorway. She gave a happy cry and ran in, wrapping her arms about her husband and son. It was the inevitable aftermath of love that followed every crisis which ever came in the path of the great Sons. I smiled cynically. Ah, how precious. And how unusual Goten stayed well clear of it. Leaning against the wall with me, his eyes now down cast, staring at the floor with great singleminded interest. The proverbial black sheep of the family.  
  
And what about my family? Well.. what can I say.. Mother was the proverbial wilting flower. Her sun was stolen therefore nothing was bringing the bright rays of a smile to her face. She took this whole mad episode with a nonchalant sigh.  
  
Bra? Well.. if you could call that strange Goth punk goddess of the underworld, that bright laughing little girl, then there's something seriously wrong with your observational skills. She still had that strangeness which she had carried with her since birth. I swear, she scares me sometimes, and it wasn't just the dyed black, spiky, blood red streaked hair with the silver studs lining her ears, the ebony eyeliner thicker than an Egyptian pharaohs', the lipstick bleeding her lips black like she had eaten coal. It was those eyes. Those damn blue eyes so like yet unlike my own. They had some kind of strange knowledge behind them. It was from beyond the after-birth of infant-hood. Hell if I knew her mystery. But it irritated me more than it ever had when I was her age. Despite her black angry appearance she was usually quiet yet nice. And that's Bra Briefs.  
  
My Grandfather? I shoved him in a home the moment he began to drool at the dinner table. Grandma followed soon after, she's the life of the rest home, so I hear. It was nothing cruel, you understand, it was for their own good. They couldn't look after them selves. Mother was too caught up in her own private desperate search to find father. I was too busy, and Bra.. well I didn't think it would be a good idea to put her in charge of our grandparents.. she was only 17.  
  
That was my family. Dysfunctional. Separate. Nullified. We pretty much had nothing to do with each other. I couldn't help but feel a slight jab of envy at the happy convergence in front of me. Smile for the simpletons Trunks.. smile so they think your normal. Goten wasn't fooled. But then he was like a brother to me. Like the only family that could warrant the name. I loved him, plain and simple. He was my brother and my best friend. I never thought of him in the same way I did the others. And how did I think of them? With disdain most of the time. I guess you could say I was growing into my father's realisations. Wasn't he around 28 when he first came to Earth to kill Goku? I blinked. So he had been. Interesting.  
  
I was at least ten times as powerful as he had been then. Even then he was under the oppressive tin plated foot of that creature known as Frieza. All I had heard was descriptions of that apparent monster. Neither Goten nor me had any clue of what he had been like. I had asked Gohan once.. He said to think about a short white Buu with a tail who had an aristocratically developed class and a rich taste in wines. Other than the fact he was an evil unlike the universe had ever seen, he sounded like an interesting fellow. The odd thing was, whenever I asked my father about him he had always gone silent then pushed me into a ruthlessly harsh sparring match.  
  
Well, I didn't have an oppressor. No one was going to walk up to me and crack a whip. I would melt their face.  
  
And my father was gone.  
  
I left the room and marched down the hall. Time to get back to work me thinks. I smirked darkly. Soon Gohan will be back to his chirpy self. He had been a great help over these last ten years. Diplomacy, strangely, seemed to be his middle name. There was only one other person I knew who was better. And that was Goten. There was something about his airhead smile that made people underestimate him. That and his youth. Like me he looked little older than 18. I was seriously thinking of replacing Gohan with Goten.  
  
Back when I first started my little game Gohan had been useful because he had been a good ten years older than me. Now though, it didn't really matter as Goten and me were of an age (and reputation) where people respected us. To a degree. There was still the odd old fart politician who was blinded by our 'apparent' inexperience in wheeling and dealing.  
  
Funny. Considering by now I had money in the back pockets of almost the entire senate of the Orange Star Islands. Weis was also on a downward slope, poor idiot. He refused to influence the senate. Oh well, more for me. The senate loved it. When it came to the day to vote, out went the Capsule Corps flags, backing whom ever I decided was easiest to manipulate. It was early days yet. Really all I had done for Capsule Corps was insure financial deals with some of the key members usually in the business of transportation and weapons. Though the later was a rather secretive deal. Oh, and of course, don't for get communications. Capsule Corps had bloomed over the past ten years on a little instrument of communication called a Crystal Cube. It had originally been devised by my mother as a way to try and contact father. It was a failure in that aspect but I saw in it the potential I needed. So.. that done I leaned back and got richer. And more powerful.  
  
Ah, democracy.. well democracy with a monarchy. Instead of a President there was a King. The senators were all cousins you see. The 'royal' family was rather large and full of illegitimate bastards who, in more recent times, been accepted back into the 'family'. I thought the whole thing was laughable. They made them selves look like a joke to the rest of the world. Just ask Johann Achilles. He was the ruler of the Red Table Nation. They had a lovely large continent south of the Orange Star Islands that at one stage my father and his general, Nappa, had blasted chunks out of. That was quite a while ago. Thinking of Nappa made me think of Goten. Was he not like my general? My second? My best friend.. definitely. I would trust him with my life. I snorted, though I would never blast him into Hell.  
  
But I was not my father. I had no restraints against me but those I chose to in force. I did not want to bring on my own self-destruction.  
  
I smirked. Fantastic. Everything was falling perfectly into place.  
  
"Trunks." Goten tapped my shoulder. I blinked out of my thick inner thoughts and turned to face him.  
  
"What's wrong Goten?" I frowned slightly. He looked worried. He bit his lip slightly and sighed, his eyes darting away to the floor, his right hand swept nervously through his black hair.  
  
"Um.. well.. I was wondering.. since Gohan's, well, out of it at the moment.." he looked up hopefully at me. "I was wondering if I could take his place.." His dark eyes grew round in appeal. "I know I can do it! And I know you know I can! Those political suckers won't know what hit them!" he laughed and grinned at me. It was slightly devious. "I think I know what you're up to Trunks.." he grew quiet and darted his eyes about the hall, checking for others. In a quiet whispery voice he spoke up. "I have for a while now wondered why you continue to go after the senate. But after the Hagen Bridge thingy I finally clicked."  
  
The 'Hagen Bridge thingy' as dear Goten called it, was the largest amount of political power I had publicly welded so far.  
  
It was against a large corporate company called Press & Douglass Incorporate. The now ex-King, King Cetearyl, had asked Press & Douglass to build him a bridge that would straddle South Island and Satan Island.  
  
The problem was the point where the South Island bridge end connected with the land. It was on a large amount of property owned by none other than King Cetearyl's rival for the throne, senator Prince Richard. They were brothers and Prince Richard was furious but could really do nothing about it since it was Crown Rule. Richard had come to me. Through advice from some of his.. cousins.  
  
Richard was desperate. This piece of land was of important value to him. He didn't tell me what it was but I found out with my own ways. Apparently Richard had reason to believe there was a large oil resource in that area and if Cetearyl took the land he could not only build the bridge but gain access to the coastal run of the property and find out Richard's secret. Lots of money for the crown, ahem, the people. Money Richard would rather have when he became King.  
  
So.. I smiled to Richard and shook his hand. Out of this, if Richard ever became King, he promised me the first place as his government's transport and weapons supplier. I was over joyed. No really I was..  
  
This was a perfect opportunity to try out my strings of power. So I got to work and found that Press & Douglass was in a rather sticky situation legally. It seemed that they were bribing off health inspectors at their chemical factories and then dumping the waste in less than approved areas. When I found this out I smiled and then dumped Press & Douglass up to their necks in shit. I found their health inspector and gave him an even heftier back pocket if he exposed Press & Douglass. He was happy to oblige. The back pocket was VERY heavy after all.  
  
So, Press & Douglass were sunk. I gathered a quiet meeting with many of the corporate Presidents of other super companies like my own and told them of it, discreetly of course. That was so when King Cetearyl went to them they politely declined. Every large business has its dirty little secrets. Well, all but mine. Capsule Corps was the cleanest of the lot.  
  
King Cetearyl was worried. The people demanded a bridge, and he knew the future investment would mean big bucks between South Island and Satan Island.  
  
So he came to me. His offer, although generous, was not in my best interest. At the next election three months later, Richard was voted in. He immediately came to me and I built him a bridge. Richard, being the loving cousin of Cetearyl, took some of the ex-King's own private waterfront land. I had a little help from the other business who had declined Cetearyl; I let them have a piece of the pie. It was no good to threaten and not reward when the dog does what its told. And now I had a nice business with Richard, building him little explosive knick-knacks and fast cars. He had also asked me to build him profitable spacecraft that could be used in exploration. I thought that interesting. Out into space for the people of Earth. Boy would they be surprised. Most didn't even believe there were aliens, let alone little green men, of which the only green men I have ever seen certainly weren't little. How ironic, the man they came to for help was half alien himself. I wondered what they would do if they knew? How would they react?  
  
Goten elbowed me in the ribs with an irritated glance. Oh right, the current situation. "Oh you clicked to what?"  
  
Goten gave me a sly smile. "Your trying to get your claws into control of the country aren't you?" I looked at him with all the blank innocence I could conjure up.  
  
"Why Goten, what ever do you mean?" I grinned. Goten gave me a 'gimme-a- break-I'm-not-that-stupid' look.  
  
He leaned forward and whispered into my ear. "You know just because my dad can be an utter moron doesn't mean I carry the same genetic disability." Damn, that was rather harsh, I thought. Goten was a bitter young man, though usually he masked it well. I guess he was very serious about what I was doing. He was right of course, it was very serious. I saw the concern in his eyes. Was he worried about me? Something suddenly broke free within me at that unexpected look. A bolt of irrational anger suddenly struck through me. Why should he care what I do?! It's none of his business.. For some reason, those two concerned eyes made me snarl with rage. How dare he..  
  
How dare he care.. for me.  
  
"Look, Goten, just watch your self.. don't interfere with what I'm doing!" he was visibly taken back by my harsh tone. "Don't even think it!" I snarled and stormed off to leave him in angry confusion.  
  
"Hey I wasn't even.!" Goten scowled. "Paranoid bastard.." he muttered as he turned around and walked back to the room, a black cloud hanging over his day.  
  
~*~  
  
Gohan sat silently in the chair. He ran his hands over the creases in his black jeans, digging his nails in to lift the stiff fabric. He felt totally and utterly alone. There was a great void in his soul that was suffused with a darkness so thick he choked on it. He felt his father's eyes on him. Kami, how was he going to explain this! Explain? Was there an explanation?  
  
Son Gohan, defender of Earth, son of Goku. Hero. Saviour. Protector. Murderer. That's what he was, even though it had been a delicious sick kind of revenge. Swiftly dealt out. But then he supposed that's why he felt so guilty. Because killing those three men had felt so good! Ripping into their hot flesh and hearing them scream. Bathing in searing waves of their boiling blood. It sent shivers through him, he hadn't wanted them to die so quickly. He had wanted them to suffer! He grimaced at the feelings. It was wrong! So damn wrong, but so right! It was like for the first time in years he was himself. Not what others wanted. But what he knew he should be. No! This couldn't be right! He was not a mindless killer! He was a hero! Then the bitter irony hit home. Yeah, sure, the ~Great~ Saiyaman.. He laughed cynically and buried his head in his hands as new hot tears came. Oh yeah, if he was the great hero he always paraded around as.. then WHY IN HELL, HAD HE LET VIDEL DIE! In a fit of rage he stood swiftly and kicked the wooden chair into the wall where it crumpled like delicate wooden wings.  
  
Goku came up behind him and held him in a mournful hug. He calmed him with soothing words and led his slightly deranged son back to the couch. "Gohan.." Goku began. Looking into his son's tear stained face. He smiled slightly. "It's.. it's alright.." he took the young man and Gohan leaned in to cry on his shoulder. "There.. there.. it's going to be okay.."  
  
He rubbed his boy's back and whispered. "It's okay, we'll wish her back.. it's okay.."  
  
Gohan shook his head into his father's shoulder. "No.. no it isn't." came his muffled words. "I killed those men dad.." he leant back to look into his father's eyes. "I killed them and.. and I liked it!" he started sobbing again and Goku took him hesitantly back. He closed his eyes tightly.  
  
"Just momentary madness.." he muttered. "Just momentary grieving madness.." Goku knew he would have done the same thing if some one murdered Chichi. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, tears edging on the corners.  
  
Gohan sobbed, knowing it wasn't true, but wanting to believe in the illusion as well.  
  
He bit his lip, staring out the window over his father's shoulder. He saw the city. He saw the fading sky, ribboned with plum and peach hued clouds. The tears stopped. The sobbing ended. He just stared as darkness slowly filtered over his vision, seeped into his soul, and made its self at home.  
~**~  
  
TBC..  
Dun dun! Be afraid! Trunks has all the pies!  
~Dynishra The '..currently mentally unstable..' Vampire~ 


	7. Chp 6 Of Men and Wolves, with a cameo by...

Warning: Contains character death.  
  
Disclaimer: I in no way own Dragonball Z or any of the associated characters herein this work of fiction written purely to express my fan- girl issues. And although I would really love to, I don't own Starbucks either, Dr. Evil got to it first (that bastard!).  
  
And after a long angst filled break by the author, Dynishra the Vampire gives you more of Trunks's Journal into darkness:  
  
Chapter Six: Of Men and Wolves, with a cameo by Death.  
  
It seems death eventually comes to claim us all. Caskets, one after the other, sometimes only months apart, were lowered into the ground or rolled with demented purpose into raging furnaces. I say 'it seems' because it had been nearly fifty years and I didn't look a day over thirty-five. What am I meant to think? The strange alien physiology that makes up half of what I am confuses me. I have no mentor to tell or scholar me in the correct 'Saiyan thinking' or to lie out what makes us tick. My father, the Prince of us all - as he constantly reminded us - was way out there, somewhere in the cosmos. No doubt clueless of the constant flow of years that continued to pass, like normal, on Earth. I had no idea why the other Saiyan brood and I stood in the peak of heath and youth while our human counterparts and relatives withered away before our bright, clear eyes. One thing that did come to me over this time was a revelation of sorts. Humans were, in the historical sense, like ants, or any other short-lived thing. Their major accomplishments and political intrigues were very important to them, anything that rocked the cycle of normality that they lived in until the day they breathed their last. Over fifty years - which by no means is a small amount of time in the lives of mortals - heralded many a war in far distant countries, usurping dictators, and inhumane atrocities that were screamed at as holocausts by the masses. A few years later, these became forgotten whispers in old, rotting newspapers, which tumbled down derelict allies fit only for the homeless outcasts of a new democratic society.  
  
The monarchy was demolished within fifty years. All my political swindling seemed at first to come to naught, but I realised that it was simply a new beginning, new fools to smile cheesy grins at and pick blinded pockets. I, being wonderfully youthful and yet with years of experience behind me, took this world of old and began to mould it anew.  
  
But even when carried away with my secret endeavours into power, I should have seen death coming. It had been coiling its muscles, ready to pounce on my mother for the last thirty years. Truly it was amazing she lasted so long, and when it finally happened I knew. I knew she had held on for him. my father, arrogant asshole Vegeta. What makes a human woman love?  
  
Despite being brought up like a human, there had always been a defining part of my character, my personality, which turned a cold shoulder to normal human emotion. I was my father's son. There was this purely Saiyan part of me, which I did not shun in any way, which ruled every aspect of how I reacted to a human situation. And since humans ruled every situation in my life, every situation was a little alien to me.  
  
To put it in an example of terms, think of it this way. There are two islands in a vast open ocean full of hurricanes and rough water. There is a wide span of water between these islands as well. On one island, full of wild dark forests, there live a great species of wolf. Powerful and great, they rule absolute over the other animals, yet there is a certain order of primal understanding between the beasts.  
  
On the other island there live vast families of dogs, all different in shape, size and colouring unlike the ferocious wolves that are all very similar in appearance. These dogs live very secure, yet close-minded lives, concerned only in themselves and have no care for the balance of nature and how they impact upon it. Content they are in only finding pleasure in life, and in finding the easy way through it. They are not fighters unless pushed to it, and although they are social, their differences affect their close- mindedness so that after a time they segregate themselves into many packs, each with their own piece of carefully and jealously guarded territory.  
  
Both the wolves and the dogs are very similar and yet so greatly different from each other that they could never comprehend each other's world or how they think.  
  
Now, throw in a great catastrophe that mostly wipes out the population of the wolves, so that the few scraggly yet strong survivors manage to get to the island of the dogs. In all physical appearances the few wolves that are left over look very much like the dogs. So the dogs, unknowingly, let the more savage and primal beasts into their own packs.  
  
I'm sure anyone with half a brain could see what I'm getting at.  
  
And anyone knows that the brood of a wild creature always contains a sense of the wild about them even if one of the parents was tame.  
  
I told this theory to Gohan. It seemed to make him nervous. But then most things seem to make him nervous nowadays. Goten tends to agree with it, but you know Goten, he doesn't really care. So, this is how I am. And as are the other half Saiyan, whether they choose to agree or not. We are almost like a sub-species all on our own, different and yet alike, the very different species that were combined out of desperation to create... us.  
  
Unique, we possess the attributes that make up the best and worse of both Saiyan and Human. And yet.  
  
I realised that this can only be achieved with realisation. And it all depends on the individual. Forty years ago, I would have said despite Gohan being half Saiyan, he is and always will be human. I laugh at that naive thinking now. All of us half Saiyans, as in my opinion the Saiyan is the stronger half of me, have the potential for the great violent and wild nature that makes up our wilder, more primal half.  
  
Are we tamed? Even dogs can go wild. if the dog wants it or is forced to. Some say that once a dog tastes blood, it can never be trusted again.  
  
I wanted the wild. I needed that strength; the shadow in the mirror demanded it. It knew that something was coming; some great bad thing was heading into the face of this new democratic society.  
  
I knew that it was all going to end. This seemingly peaceful life was going to end. Humans could not live like this forever. It was going to come sooner or later, so what did it matter if the inevitable got a little push to start it off? The strong will survive, and no doubt that meant us.  
  
Death is the catalyst.  
  
Hers was in particular. Amongst all my deep political scheming, it caught me unawares. It was like a cold slap. a jab with the reality blade.  
  
It woke me up from my deep dreaming.  
  
It was a spring morning; dew painted the grass like some lazy water god had pulled out his holy garden hose and sprinkled it overnight. Already, the small pink and white buds were beginning to unravel on the winter-stunted skeletons of hibernating bushes and trees. New bright green growth was sprouting through yellowed tough grasses. The shadows were still short, pulled in against their physical bodies by the chilly bite of weak sunlight. A soft breeze swept over soggy moulding leaves from last autumn, once brilliant oranges and golds now a slushy brown paste, home to many contented worms and earwigs. Amongst the old dead, rejuvenating back into bright youth come slender high-pitched hungry chirps of newborn ugly featherless fledglings. Bits of speckled eggshell still glued to their grey, naked bodies by birth membrane.  
  
I thought about those ugly grey birdlings as I looked at my mother's. sleeping. body. Surrounded by the finest yellow silk sheets, they would bring no comfort for her dried-up, shadowed face. The fine, light blue hair was gathered about her face in a short bob, never to be brushed aside by a careless age spotted hand again.  
  
My hands clenched about the brass handles of the breakfast tray I held. The one I had carried to her every morning since she had gone into bed rest. The warm smell of oat porridge was scented gently on its own rising moist breath. I think I tried to speak as I stared at her. To usher her from the deep valley of sleep every being falls to. But the valley she had descended to was one far deeper and darker than I could ever hope to call her back from.  
  
Childishly, I gnawed on my bottom lip. I could feel the burning in my eyes and with my next breath the sob caught me by surprise. I was not one for dramatic outbursts of emotion. I did not drop the tray to clatter noisily to the ground, to spray the fine carpet with mush. I walked to her simple dresser and placed the tray there, simply, before swiftly kneeling to her side. I know I didn't need to check for the pulse; I could already smell the death on her slim frame. There was no life in her body. I could not sense the constant movement of blood that would usually circulate about the body of the living. Her blood had slumped, sluggishly into the lowest parts of her, leaving her face and extremities grey and parchment white.  
  
Even thought I knew it, I still whispered, "Mother...?" My voice surprised me with its cracked tone. I wanted to reach out and touch her, gently shake her from her deep rest. But some primal distant fear, the fear those living have for the mysterious dead, stopped me from touching her. I stood suddenly, feeling a strange revolting heat roll though me. the alien sensation of sudden emotion. Usually kept in careful disciplined control, I felt myself cracking like porcelain. Pain, so sudden it was shocking to me, knifed though me like a villain running me through. Then, like a struggling survivor looking for help I stumbled to the phone and attempted to use it. I randomly punched a button and heard the distant dial tone.  
  
"Hello, cme a smiling voice, Son Goku. my mother's best friend. I wanted to laugh brokenly. Of course she would have him on speed dial. I tried to form words. It was like my mind had been shattered and the large ceramic pieces were being sieved so that they jumbled together in chaotic confusion.  
  
First came the logic. The Noun for him... THE NOUN.  
  
"Goku?" replied a cracked alien voice. No way did it belong to the great Trunks Briefs. The noun of the smiling voice was Goku. Wasn't it????!!!  
  
"Is that you?"  
  
Yes. it was... the noun was Goku. Logic... come to me. I clenched my eyes shut. The situation must be told! I have to spell it out!  
  
"She's gone. Goku." There... done. I had called for help. The great hero himself would surely answer for her death. I think I broke down then, the stinging in my eyes was burred out and flooded with alien warm salty tears. Every breath made a broken sound from my mouth that I wanted to hold back, but I couldn't! I couldn't stop it! With every breath, it got worse and the long silence continued on the other end.  
  
Then suddenly, "It's okay, Trunks, I'll be right over." I think I heard him breath out before he mumbled some ending and then there was the disconnected tone. It kept telling me 'beep' over and over again. After awhile I got sick of it repeating itself and I splintered it into dead fragments and twisted plastic.  
  
I waited for a very long time; decades it was, I'm sure. I watched the flowers slowly unwind from their enclosed buds on the tree limbs out the window, the dew forming and evaporating over and over again.  
  
I knew there were people rushing about me, a great blur and they passed. Sometimes hands were on my clothes, shaking me, slapping my face, screaming at me. Like bodiless spirits they swirled about me, and were as ineffective as a passing wind. I think the next time I blinked, I was staring in my tall mirror, dressed in a classy black suit. Black silk shirt, my fingers were just falling from the top button when I realised I was awake again. I stared at my alive, bright blue eyes and carefully combed lilac hair; it was done as though someone else had tended to it. Perhaps someone else had, I didn't care.  
  
I noticed there were cue cards on my bed, a eulogy was written on them in smudged blue ink. The corners were dog-eared as though a thumb and sweaty hands had run through the speech over and over again.  
  
I picked them up and deftly slipped them into my chest pocket where a white rose was pinned with a few green sprigs. I flicked the rose and fancied it should be yellow.  
  
When I stood up before the others, I pulled those rough cards out of my pocket and like the director I was, eulogised my mother for all she was worth. There were no jokes, no happy moments to remember, I simply told them what they knew already. That in that white casket, white like the wedding dress she never wore, or fancied to wear as she often use to tell me as a quick after thought in conversation; Bulma Briefs lay. Dead. Old beyond the normal for a human. Her body would be given back to the earth like the stone it once was before Pyrrha threw it over her shoulder.  
  
Most of the crowd was old. Many of her old friends were already in the place she had gone to in her sleep. Krillin, that short little guy who had been like an uncle when I was very young, he wasn't in the crowd. Neither was Yamcha. Mother had told me the story about her and Yamcha once. I think I hated him deeply since then. But it didn't really matter any more. Those humans of her youth were dead. Leaving behind their own families to care or not.  
  
I think one of the weirdest of those left behind was Marron. The little girl Goten and me had grown up with, pulling her hair and sticking gum in it. Teasing her and stealing forbidden kisses when we were teens. To look on her now.an old woman. I think she hated Goten and me a little. She had a happy life though. A great huge family with many children who were now at mother's funeral with their children grown and grand children on knee. Android 18 sat behind them. Young and pretty as always, but her face was tight. The lines of grief pulled on her artificial bones and I knew she was like us. She and mother had become strong friends over the years. Those who knew her personally never called her Android 18. Mother had given her a good name many years ago, and it had stuck.  
  
I didn't pay much attention to the rest of it.  
  
I stood with the chill spring rain running down my face, ruining my silk shirt, staring at her mound of dirt. I knew that there was no one else standing with me, though Bra was under a nearby willow, a black umbrella up and shielding her as she waited for me. She suited the black clothing like she had once upon a time in teen years.  
  
I felt like a coffee, so I turned my back on the dirt mound and ruined my shoes as I walked through the finely mowed muddy lawn back to Bra and the limousine.  
  
We went to Starbucks.  
  
So what if it had been fifty years, there would always be a Starbucks.  
  
~*~  
  
TBC. 


	8. Growing Realities

Warning: A little violence, language, yaoi and mental issues.  
  
Disclaimer: I in no way own Dragonball Z or any of the associated characters herein this work of fiction written purely to express my fan- girl issues.  
  
Chapter Seven: Growing Realities  
  
Bra was so happy.  
  
Her shining face brought out the youthful innocence her long white dress portrayed. Ah marriage. Wonderful.  
  
I stood in the front isle wishing I were anywhere else but at this 'joyous' occasion. It was Bra's wedding to a guy named Elliott. I didn't like him much, far too flaky for my sister. But I believe she picked him because he was also dependable in her eyes. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my black silk lined pants. This was so boring. I could have been doing a million other things than be here. My eyes drifted to Goten who sat several places along from me. He was not concentrating on the ceremony at all, his hands were caught up fidgeting with his white pearl cuff-links that his mother had given him long ago for when he would one day get married. Since he was wearing one of his few formal suits I guessed he had decided to wear them. It was a bit odd, but then he was a bit odd so said many people. I didn't think so personally. Compared to me he was completely normal. Oh if only those sad sad people knew the thoughts that went on inside this lavender capped head of mine. I repressed a cynical smirk. Oh they would scream if they knew.  
  
Goten had acted weird ever since Chichi's death. Although I didn't like her, he had been very close to her. It had pretty much been just Chichi, him and Gohan for most of his life. And me of course, I had always been there. For him and with him. Trunks and Goten. We were a pair.  
  
I continued to watch him out the corner of my eye and I saw him staring at Bra. Was it the dress? I flicked my eyes to look and noticed once again that smile she had on her face. Why did it look so wrong with those Saiyan eyes? Surely Elliott knew she was not entirely human? But then I had not brought that topic up with my sister. I looked back at Goten; a frown creased my forehead. He is staring at her! Then I suddenly realised the obvious. I repressed a growl and bit my tongue. How?! Damn it! How had I missed it! There he is, watching his secret crush getting married. And here I am sitting here in this tailored suit, I with all my millions and all my power. Sitting here and watching that dreamy whimsical look on his face! I sit here and I do nothing. I felt blinding jealousy writhe through me like a vicious raven picking at my guts. I swear I heard a familiar high-pitched laugh echo from far off. Oh the fucking irony. He was in love with my sister. And here I sat in love with him. I felt like killing something. Maybe my sister. She didn't see my death glares. She was too busy staring dreamily into Elliott's milky brown eyes. And so we suffer in our tangled webs.  
  
Why had I never realised. Stupid! Stupid! I had been too busy accumulating my power, too busy pretending, too sure that he was mine for when I wanted to grab him. And all that time that I wasn't paying attention he slipped out of my grasp. No.. he was not gone yet! So what if he loved her! I pushed the snarl out of my lungs under my breath. She was getting married. And wasn't I Trunks?! Son of Vegeta! I could have anything I wanted. all I had to do was reach out and take it. I would have him. In my own time. Then as I sat there, people crying out happily as bride and groom kissed, as they threw rice into the air, a small smile crept to my face. A small devious smirk. My eyes flicked to Goten who had stood and watched Bra from a distance, wanting in his gaze. Adoring friends surrounded the couple. They wouldn't notice us. A memory came to me, and with it an idea.  
  
~*~  
  
Several months earlier..  
  
I watched her.  
  
I felt so miserably weak. If only there was some way I could grant her some of my never-ending strength. Even if it was just so she could hold on a little longer.  
  
Her beautiful sky blue hair was loose and shimmering down her back. The faded yellow dress seemed formless on her wasted body. Old Grim had come to claim her; there was nothing I could do.  
  
Not a thing!  
  
Me, one of the worlds most powerful men. Helpless in the face of mortality.  
  
Bra was sitting with her now. They were talking quietly; I could have listened if I wished. But this was their time I suppose. Looking at Bra now, a young woman, its hard to think of her as the punk goth she had been. In her red leather.  
  
It seems she still fancied the colour. Very tidy she was, in a burgundy suit, her hair in a tight bun. Her hand suddenly skittered up from its limp position on her lap to cover her lips. Her eyes widened with agony. Mother must have mentioned her own death again.  
  
Emotions are funny. They can make you scream louder and harder than any physical pain. I kind of wanted to scream like that right now. I could do nothing to save my mother. And the frustration was killing me.  
  
I watched Bra stand. Her blue eyes slowly closed, her mouth pinched as she gathered the strength to leave. She walked out swiftly. As she bushed past me she muttered something about a board meeting. I heard her sobs break as she left the hallway behind.  
  
Slowly I turned back to face mother. I had never seen an angel before. And ever since that evening I never saw another. She looked sad.  
  
What a weak word.. three letters. Its meant to sum up the enormity of the emotion behind her tear blue eyes. Those are things she shared with us. Her eyes and her hair.  
  
Every one I ever met commented how much my eyes were like my mothers.  
  
"You eyes are like you're father's Trunks." She said, her voice weak and hushed from a lifetime of screaming at stupid men. I glanced up at her; my rough hands were sunk in the warm depths of my jean pockets.  
  
"Why do you always say that?" I asked. I think my voice sounded harder than I wanted it to. Her eyes crinkled with pain for a moment.  
  
"Have you ever looked in a mirror?" She said with a faint smile. Her hand drifted down to stroke the duvet as she sat down on the bed.  
  
I looked away for a moment. I didn't like mirrors much. "Your eyes are as dark as Vegeta's."  
  
I then realised she wasn't talking about colour. I fixed my gaze back on her. Despite knowing I asked any way, "What do you mean?"  
  
Her smile became wry. "Your ambition shines through as dark as his did.. once."  
  
I had heard the tales of course. The stories of what my father use to do.. "Once?" I asked. My feet shuffled, I was uncomfortable. I guess I'm not all that emotional right? I'm not meant to be.  
  
She grinned for a moment. "The man I fell in love with was different to the man you knew." Her head bowed for a moment, remembering.  
  
"When I first saw him on Namek, he had such focus, such need, such ambition. His eyes sparkled with it. He was like a dark brilliant flame. He was truly the Prince he always called him self. But.." she sighed heavily. "When he came here..he seemed lost. Then after Goku died, he also seemed to die. His will seemed.. transparent. He would do as I asked instead of arguing over every little thing. That light faded slightly. Every year it got a little less. Then, after Buu.. for a while he had it again. He seemed almost happy. But it wasn't to last.."  
  
Why is she telling me this..  
  
"He was always lost, Trunks. Always alone. No one understood him. Perhaps Goku did, but he never really showed it around us. Even I never really did understand. I mean how can you understand him. He was like a stone wall. He had no others like him, no people. Imagine being the last human, Trunks.. imagine it. Lost amongst creatures that were so different to your self. He was royalty, born to rule his entire race. He was worse than an out cast." Her smile became self mocking.  
  
"I guess at first I tried to understand him, he was so mysterious. I was drawn. That's why I invited him to stay here at first. But I never really thought about it until he was gone. Not really." She sat silently for several long minutes as I absorbed what she was saying to me.  
  
"You.. you share a similar thing with him.. in here." She tapped her forehead lightly. I saw her face tense as she struggled for the right words. "Don't ever forget your father Trunks. And.. if you can, try to find him for me once I.." She looked away. A small sad smile came then.  
  
She looked at me, a glimmer of hope. "I know you will make him proud." She seemed to tighten her resolve and reached out to grasp my hand pulling me down to sit beside her. She breathed in and looked me straight in the eye. "If you remember your father, always, then live for his memory! Make him proud of you and make sure you keep this place just right." She nodded. I think she was loosing it a little. "Keep this world safe, for his sake. The Saiyan Prince." She said the last bit almost mockingly. And yet it was no mockery of my father, perhaps it was irony she spoke of? Irony? Was there irony? Of course there was. There was irony in everything. Fucking irony.  
  
~*~  
  
Present.  
  
I opened the door and a spray of sparks drew my eyes to a huddled figure. Gohan was bent over his work, a welder in one hand, protective goggles over his eyes, making them look bulbous like some great insect. I raised my hand and smiled darkly at him. His head looked up slightly but he didn't stop welding whatever thing-ma-bob he was creating.  
  
I stood there, dressed casually in baggy jeans and a loose grey T-shirt, my hands in my pockets, thumbs hooked around my belt. I lent against the wall and watched him for several long minutes. My dark blue eyes roved around this sparse lab situated in the lower bowls of Capsule Corps.  
  
A breeze from the open door scattered my fringe into my eyes and I huffed it away, dragging one finger through my hair to tuck the loose strands away from their irritating freedom. My eyes turned back in silent observation as the Son twisted the gas off to the blue flame in his right hand. He peered up at me through the smudged goggles and I noticed with slight amusement that his lips tightened in irritation. He quickly shoved the goggles up to his forehead. The movement forcefully pushed his short black spikes backward over his scalp. "What." He said sharply and glared at me through dark ringed eyes. Aw.. The poor thing. Having nightmares still are we?  
  
I pouted slightly and walked slowly towards him, my eyes staring straight into his. I had been thinking about that idea for some time. Ever since that bloody wedding. This idea of something I couldn't have done before now, obligations and all.. But I could shove the workload on to Bra for a little while. Sure she had her own company and her husband now, but I knew she would just love to get her hands on Capsule Corps for a few months. I smirked and I saw the Son grow nervous under my gaze. Hmm.. Nothing wrong with a little toying now and then.  
  
I walked right up to him, invading his personal space uncomfortably and I grinned widely with my canines in full gleam. My hands where still shoved tightly in my pockets and although I was a few inches shorter than Gohan, I saw him quail slightly. I smirked and his usual stoic face twisted into a snarl. "What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want." He growled at me through his tightly clenched teeth. He slammed the welder down on his worktable with an angry clang.  
  
I leaned back slightly and smiled wickedly. "Gosh Gohan, why so tense? You really should relax.." I slowly reached out one hand and he watched it with a growl forming deep in his throat. I swiftly changed tactics and patted him on the shoulder as I walked around behind him. I walked towards the large garage doors at the far end of the vast room and said, "I want you to build me a space ship!" I spread my arms out wide over all the sheets of metal and the vast collection of materials that filled up the underground lab.  
  
The doors at the far end were at the pinnacle of a long upward sloping cement ramp that opened out on to the vast green back yard of Capsule Corps. Once he had finished building my ship, it would be hauled through those doors to the grassy field above. From there, I would travel out into space and look for my father. Goten with me, of course. It was all part of my plan. When I turned around I was faced with a gaping Gohan. "Wha.. what?!" For some reason he blushed heavily and looked away, raising his hand to rub his face with a groan.  
  
"You heard me." I said and narrowed my brows with a small smile. "I'm going.." I waved my hand in the air. "..out there to look for Vegeta."  
  
I don't think I really expected his next reaction. Gohan threw his head back and laughed. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him as he continued his strange unnatural cackle. "Ha! You want to go find him?! Impossible!" He sneered at me. " Don't you get it Trunks?! The man is fucking dead! His skeletons drifting way out there with the rest of the cosmic junk! He isn't coming back. Frankly I can't believe you still have hope that he's alive." He turned his back on me and raised his hand to pull his goggles back over his eyes.  
  
How dare he! I growled and in a blink vanished and swung my fist into the side of his head. Gohan flew to the side, smacking into the wall, his head connecting with a sick crack. Hn, well he wasn't expecting that now was he. I clenched my fists and snarled at his stunned wide eyes. "Build me a fucking ship." I snarled, my eyes wide with rage. "It's not your place to question my reasoning!" I stalked towards him and he sat up flush with the wall staring at me. I raised my black booted foot and placed it squarely on his chest and pushed in. He grunted painfully and my scowl turned into a sadistic smile.  
  
There was a loud crack and he whimpered. "Damn it Trunks! I can't build it if you break my ribs!" He whined and pushed at my foot. He did have a point. I stood back and folded my arms over my chest.  
  
"Do it. Have the blue prints on my desk by next Thursday." I said in a cold voice. I sneered at him and kicked him lightly on his sprawled right leg before turning around and walking out of the dank lab.  
  
As the door slid shut behind me I heard him mutter, "Asshole.."  
  
~*~  
  
Gohan wasn't doing too good. And that was obvious to every one. He had thrown him self into his creations. His own strange with-drawl from the world seemed mirrored in the actions of his father. Goku also seemed to enclose him self in training and seclusion after my mother died.  
  
Some times Goten would mention what his father was up to when he started yammering on about crap. Crap that I loved to listen to. The last I heard the 'saviour of the Earth' had taken up training with that Namek, Piccolo. Good for them. As long as they didn't get in my way I didn't give a damn. As it was I was setting my plans down in granite. After his initial dismissal of my plans, Gohan had thrown him self into the project of my ship with gusto. The blueprints for it arrived two days early and they surprised me with their detail and perception. They had no doubt given Gohan several nights of dark rings under his eyes. But that was really his problem. I was supremely happy with them and gave the man a pay rise. As though that would end his agony. But I'm a cruel man. I'm not going to deny that. No. Never that.  
  
Bra was happy with her new life. Not that it was really any different than her old one. She just liked to say it was new, perhaps it helped her deal with all her past pains. Some times she would look at me with that knowing look she had as a child. As though she had some kind of ability which gave her the gift of seeing into minds. I hated that look. I knew she didn't have a clue of what was going on inside of my head. No one did.  
  
Goten moped about, half the time secretly spying on her. It made me sick watching him stare after her like a dog, and it made me furious that I felt that way just because of him. I was angry that I was jealous and I was angry that another person could make me so mad. So damn insane. I would listen in quite fury as he talked constantly about her. And 'oh how great Elliott was' when I knew he despised him. Why couldn't Goten see we were perfect for each other! Why could he not see the way my eyes lingered upon him for a little too long. Or when there was an uncomfortable silence where I just stared at him and he stared back, did he realise then? No he didn't have a clue did he.  
  
Well I would give him a clue. I would wake him up. Going out into space to look for my father with him was the most excellent opportunity.  
  
~*~  
  
Goten was asleep on the couch. One arm hanging of the yellow suede cushion. I stood over him, my eyes admiring, and my hands deep in my pockets to resist the temptation to touch such divine perfection. If any one had walked into the lounge and saw me, they would have easily seen the naked lust in my eyes as I stared in complete fixation. But if any one had walked in just then I would have lazily raised my arm and blown them away. Most likely without blinking or moving my azure eyes from the shining obsidian locks of his hair. It had taken me a long time to realise just how strongly my level of desire for Goten was. It had to have been the wedding that had sparked the flame that had smouldered for so long within me. I just couldn't stand the way he had stared at Bra with such open longing when I had secretly desired him for so long. Ahh me.. the fickle bastard prince.  
  
He stirred slightly and his arm was flung gracelessly back over his naked chest. I think the sudden movement gave me a slight surprise as I jumped and snapped out of my daze.  
  
"You're kidding your self if you think he'll ever love you back." Came a voice that imitated my bored drawl perfectly. My head snapped up and I saw my reflection in the mirror over the mantle. I hate mirrors.  
  
And there was the reason for it.  
  
He smiled at me with his mouth, his light blue eyes staying that same dull angry look. Like he was angry that that was all he was, a reflection. At least I liked to believe that was all he was. He tilted his face arrogantly. Once again an expression I had worn numerous times. But then since he was me, of course I was going to recognise it for what it really was. He hated me. Through and through to my very bones he hated me. That Trunks in the mirror hated the Trunks here, in the world, me. Did he feel as lost as I did?  
  
"You don't know that." I whispered back. I didn't want to wake the sleeping devil that rolled over on his side, a frown on his forehead as though he was having a nightmare. The other Trunks smiled again. I was not sure if he was from my future or another future or who he truly was. All I knew was that he was older than I was and he had a clean scar over his face. The first meeting between us had been mad and bloody. But I knew this one would not. There would be no shattered glass or blood this time. Not with Goten asleep right there beside me. Goten was my sanity.  
  
"How do you know? Maybe I've already done it? Maybe I already know what will happen?" he had this amused look now, his hands deep in his pockets as mine were. "Since you seem so sure that I'm your future self or some garble." He was mocking me again. But his words didn't touch my skin.  
  
I mirrored his arrogant tilt. "Fine, whatever you are. Will I find him?" I was meaning my father of course. If he was my future self he would know. The question seemed to catch him off guard and he hesitated for too long. His face went blank and he stared at me now as though I was a threat.  
  
"No, of course you won't. You should forget about him. He's nothing but trouble for you." Was this thing giving me advice now?! I had seen Hamlet, I knew not to trust in things that were like spirits. He may have been my doppelganger but from the things he had done and said in the past I knew not to trust him.  
  
"How do I know what you're saying is the truth?" I said so quietly that I could barely hear the breath pass through my lips. Even though, he still heard me. And he smiled again, bitterly this time.  
  
"You don't. And if I were you and you were me, which we are, then you would know to trust no one. Not even your little slut there." His grin turned icy and then with the next blink of my eyes I was staring at me in the mirror. He was gone. I let out my held breath and I realised my hands were shaking.  
  
"Trunks?" I jumped and stared at Goten who peered up at me with chocolate eyes. I huffed out a breath and turned away from him to walk out the door. Before I reached the door I called out in an off-handed way.  
  
"I want you to come with me." As I entered my large office I heard his feet quickly hit the floor and he entered into my office after me, pulling on his shirt.  
  
"Where?" he said lightly. Why is it he always sounded like he never had a care. I turned about in my high-backed leather chair with a charming smile.  
  
"Space. I'm going to look for Vegeta."  
  
TBC. 


End file.
